Infinities: The First Order War
by Agamar Rules The Galaxy
Summary: An AU of the Sequel Trilogy's star war told from the academic perspective of a historical text. In the wake of the Hosnian Cataclysm, the First Order's relentless advance claims more and more of the galaxy with each passing day. As the galaxy darkens, Garm Bel Iblis and Gilad Pellaeon broker an uneasy alliance to hold back the night.
1. Rebel Yell

REBEL YELL

The Hosnian Cataclysm of 34 ABY heralded a massive shift in the galactic balance of power. In the wake of its capital's destruction, the New Republic lost its shaky dominance on the galactic stage. The provisional government assembled from the ashes of the New Republic's political structure found little support as planet after planet capitulated to the First Order, fell out of contact, or seceded. The most significant secession was that of Corellia.

Corellia's senators and planetary leaders had long been critical of the New Republic, strongly opposing its military and tax policies following the end of the Galactic Civil War. Its senator, Garm Bel Iblis, had also long been considered a political firebrand. He had taken a hawkish post-war stance against the Imperial forces that had not been accounted for in Imperial Remnant records. He had repeatedly stated his open disrespect and disdain for those he believed were Imperial infiltrators and remained a staunch supporter of Leia Organa-Solo, even in the wake of the scandal that revealed her relation to Darth Vader. He was also vocal over what he saw as the sidelining of old Rebel Alliance veterans in the Senate in favor of a new class of ex-Imperial politicians. To many of his fellow senators, he had become an inconvenience, a threat. The rift between old guard like Bel Iblis and the new ex-Imperial senators had grown and festered over the years.

When the New Republic Provisional Government issued a call to arms to its remaining member worlds, Bel Iblis refused. The Provisional Government had ordered Corellia to deploy all of her fleets and armies to the Aressa Salient, a Rimward section of the war facing an immediate advance by the First Order's Third Fleet. Bel Iblis described this order "the latest in a long string of strategic blunders." He opposed the idea of giving command of Corellia's military over to a government he considered incompetent in an action that his intel had deemed suicidal. The total deployment ordered by the Provisional Government would have also deprived Corellia of most of her defenses. Bel Iblis announced Corellia's secession from the New Republic, voicing his lack of faith in a government that had "failed the Rebel dream." Bel Iblis vowed that Corellia would fight the First Order and win or die on its own terms.

On the home front, Corellia was truly united for the first time in decades. The heartbreak of the Galactic Civil War was still fresh in living memory. The last war had been a war between brothers, with Corellians finding themselves on both sides of the conflict. Siblings had buried siblings. Nobody, whether former Rebel or former Imperial, wished to take up arms against their kin again. And so they marched arm in arm. Whatever the future, they would face it as one united planet. Former Rebels demanded blood for blood, while former Imperials saw themselves as distinct from the distant First Order, which they viewed as a band of upstart pretenders and extremists. The fires of industry flared into newfound life in the following weeks as the shipyards of Corellia, Selonia, and Talus switched to a wartime footing. The mood was defiant, optimistic. Military volunteer rates skyrocketed as young men and women, a new generation of untested warriors, were swept up in the indignant, patriotic anger of the moment, perhaps blissfully ignorant of the price that war would force them to pay.

Corellia was not alone, either. Bel Iblis and planetary governor Elios Thane reached out to trade partners, treaty signatories, and old Galactic Civil War contacts. Duro was the first planet to answer the call, an old friend coming in Corellia's time of need. Devaron, Bestine IV, Yag'Dhul, and the Wookiee Worlds rallied to the Corellian banner soon after. Veterans of both the Rebel Alliance and Bel Iblis' old splinter rebellion came in from the cold, offering what services they could to the cause. Even surviving elements of the New Republic military joined in, deserting following the Provisional Government's continued ineffectiveness. The most notable defectors from the New Republic were the aces of Rogue Squadron and the commandos of Wraith Squadron. Volunteers also arose from other worlds not officially aligned with Corellia. Volunteer fighter wings from Coruscant, Taanab, and Ralltiir arrived to join the fight. From Hapes came the 1st Hapan Volunteer Fusiliers Regiment. Jedi Master Kyle Katarn surfaced leading a handful of Jedi Knights, the last proud survivors of their order following the Ossus Massacre and Luke Skywalker's disappearance. Most surprising of all, however, was an offer of support from the Imperial Remnant.

* * *

In the years leading up to the Hosnian Cataclysm, the Imperial Remnant had maintained a shaky relationship with the First Order. Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, the Remnant's head of state, had taken steps to distance the Remnant from the First Order. He had refused all overtures for military alliance, personnel exchanges, and military trade. Imperial Remnant Archive documents indicate that the Remnant had, at most, signed a mutual non-aggression pact and limited trade treaties for consumer goods and foodstuffs.

Relations had soured considerably towards 34 ABY, however. First Order commerce raids had taken a toll on Imperial shipping deals with other worlds. The First Order warship _Bonecrusher_ destroyed the bulk freighter _Haystack_ , mistaking it for a Resistance vessel and killing 200 Remnant civilians. First Order ships regularly waylaid and captured the crews of merchant vessels plying the trade routes connecting the Remnant to its trade partners, press-ganging the crews into naval service. The First Order blockade of Tanabar, a supplier of tibanna to the Remnant and New Republic, was met with Imperial outrage. The act that doomed the Remnant-First Order relationship, however, was a disastrous secret meeting between a First Order delegation and the Remnant government. Admiral Kurita of the First Order met with Pellaeon and the Central Committee of Grand Moffs with an offer of military alliance.

Kurita had suggested that with the Remnant's armies at the forefront of the war, the two powers could set the galaxy ablaze. Pellaeon, by this point fed up with the First Order's antics, refused. To him, the language was clear. The First Order wished to use the Remnant as an expendable meat shield. It was to be a repeat of the cowardice displayed during Operation Cinder, where Pellaeon and countless others were left as an expendable rearguard as the First Order's founders laughed from the safety of the Unknown Regions. At gunpoint, Kurita and his diplomatic entourage were forced to depart the Remnant. Subsequent First Order commerce raids on Remnant shipping lanes increased in quantity and ferocity. Then the Hosnian Cataclysm happened. Thousands of Remnant ambassadorial personnel and tens of thousands of other Remnant civilians on business and tourist permits had been wiped from the face of the galaxy. This was the final straw. The Imperial Remnant declared war on the First Order one day after Hosnian. Pellaeon's forces, however, were a shadow of the old Empire's, drained by both the post-war disarmament and the damage from Operation Cinder. The First Order's forces were inexplicably massive. Where had they sourced the manpower to crew their massive new Star Destroyers and their rumored planet-sized superweapon? From whence did the First Order's massive Stormtrooper Corps originate? How much of the Unknown Regions did the First Order control?

The Remnant's next objective was obvious: Pellaeon needed allies. He set a course for Corellia.

* * *

To formalize Corellia's new alliances, a conference was held on Corellia to draft what the media had dubbed the Second Corellian Treaty. It had been a long time since Pellaeon had set foot on his birth planet. His homecoming was an uneasy one. Many Corellians considered him an outsider, not out of malice, but as a natural consequence of his long years of domicile on Bastion. Most of Corellia's allies had chafed under the old Empire's rule, also. The other members of the conference were skeptical of Pellaeon's claims until he produced a recorded holo of the secret meeting and evidence of the First Order's aggression against the Remnant. He had his own blood toll to collect. Though they did not fully trust him, the other members of this budding alliance grudgingly conceded. In a twist of cosmic irony, Pellaeon would become a signatory of this Second Corellian Treaty. Thrawn would have rolled in his grave.

Though the number of powers represented at the Corellian Conference was hailed by the media as a grand interstellar union, the harsh realities of the situation were not lost on the Treaty's signatories. They were a handful of worlds in a galaxy of hundreds of millions of planets, most of whom had accepted the dominion of the First Order. As the delegations turned their eyes to the stars, Duros Admiral Vor Kaalaz summed up their situation: "Are all the lights in the sky our enemy?"


	2. Opening Moves

OPENING MOVES

The forces of the Second Corellian Treaty faced a daunting logistical task as they entered the war. Starting from their peacetime economies and forces, they would have to build up a military machine capable of sustaining multiple simultaneous world wars across the galaxy. Though official records and numbers remain sealed, the Corellian Armed Forces began the war as a relatively small force on the galactic stage. The Corellian Navy had ten _Endurance-_ class carriers, thirteen MC80s, eight _Nebula_ -class Star Destroyers, and an assortment of a few hundred corvettes, destroyers (distinct from the Star Destroyer hull classification), frigates, and cruisers. Corellian Engineering Corporation and the shipyards at Talus and Selonia were perfectly capable of producing starfighters, freighters, and small warships but would take weeks to construct the facilities needed to produce CVs and BBs. For the first month of the war, Corellia would have no way to replace its carriers or Star Destroyers. The Navy would have to be miserly with their use.

In terms of starfighters, Corellian Navy Starfighter Command had the T-65XJ X-wing and the BTL-S7 Y-wing torpedo/scout bomber, produced on license from Incom and Koensayr. The XJ was a divergent branch of the X-wing line, developed along a path parallel to the T-70 and its successors. The XJ kept the general spaceframe and design of the T-65 but with upgrades to its engines, ECM, computers, guns, and ordnance launchers that allowed it to equal or surpass the TIE/FO. The BTL-S7, an evolution of the old Y-wing design, was considered a dependable workhorse with a hefty anti-warship punch but its mediocre agility and speed in this day and age made it unsuited for rigors of modern dogfighting. Together, these craft made up the bulk of CNSFC's carrier wings in the early war. While production output was deemed adequate for the needs of the current fleet, the need for massive fleet buildup meant that production facilities would need to be expanded considerably over the war. CNSFC's General Wedge Antilles also commissioned the development of a new space superiority fighter and new torpedo bomber to replace the existing pre-war designs.

Corellia's pre-war ground forces had been limited in scope. A few dozen divisions of professional, well-trained volunteers made up the ranks of the Corellian Expeditionary Forces. The CEF's troops were veterans who had cut their teeth in anti-piracy actions in the interbellum, but it was clear from the war's outset that the CEF would be numerically inadequate for the war ahead. From Corellia's population of three billion, Bel Iblis would need to raise millions of troops to match the First Order's hordes. And that came with more logistical problems. Existing bases had to be expanded and hundreds more would need to be built to accommodate the new armies. Factories and farms would need to exponentially increase production to keep up with the military's demands for just about everything, from tanks to socks to rations. New starports, space elevators, and orbital dockyards would have to be assembled to contain the hundreds upon hundreds of bulk freighters needed to ferry the troops and their supplies to the fight. Highways would have to be widened to accommodate the millions of supply trucks and fighting vehicles requisitioned for the war effort. Millions of labor droids would need to be constructed or imported as well. And then there was the issue of quality control. How many weeks would need to be shaved off of basic training to ensure that there was enough infantry for the coming fight? What sacrifices would need to be made in the production of blasters, tanks, and artillery pieces to ensure that production could remain sustainable and affordable? With so many volunteers, how many people were left to man the means of production on the home front?

All was not unwell, however. Corellia's arms industry had ensured that the existing CEF still enjoyed some advantages over other galactic powers' troops. Armament Coronet, or ArmaCor, had emerged onto the galactic market as a manufacturer of dependable, affordable, and versatile infantry firearms. Its AC5 series of blaster rifles was unmatched in accuracy, firepower, and range while the AC7 autoblaster series was well-liked for providing infantry squads with a light, reliable support weapon with a fantastic rate of fire and ammunition capacity, though it could never quite match the Imperial E-web's destructive potential or cooling systems. Yutrane-Trackata's T7-A1 Paladin main battle tank, licensed to local producers, formed the backbone of the Corellian armored divisions. It was considered one of the best tanks in the galaxy thanks to its accurate and fast-firing main gun, cutting-edge protective package, and superb acceleration. Its fuel consumption, however, would remain a cause for concern until the development of the engine upgrades featured in the T7-A2 a year after the declaration of war. For most armor historians, the only other MBT that could equal the T7 series in this war was the Remnant's S-3 Warlord main battle tank, which boasted superior mobility due to its repulsorlift design but possessed lighter armor and other defensive systems as a consequence.

Many of the other forces of the Second Corellian Treaty faced their own issues as well. The Duros provided a large navy, capital shipyards, and a skilled Marine Corps, courtesy of their history as a spacefaring species, but they lacked the ground-based punch of their peers. The inhospitable surface of Duro meant that most Duros today continued to live in orbital colonies, where armored warfare and heavy artillery would be inconvenient at best and suicidal at worst. Wookiee shock troops, trackers, and scouts were unmatched by all but the Trandoshans and their fighting vehicles and starfighters were on par with those of other galactic powers but their meager shipyards would be unable to provide much in the way of warships. The Imperial Remnant's logistical situation is still largely classified, but existing publicly available accounts show us a military caught in a transition phase. Its elite Stormtrooper Corps, border fleets, and starfighter squadrons were on the cutting edge of military technology but a great deal of Imperial Army divisions had not yet completed the equipment update phase at the war's beginning. For the first year, dozens of Imperial Army divisions and the Remnant's inner system fleets would go to battle using designs that dated back to the end of the Galactic Civil War. Nonetheless, the Remnant boasted a larger military than its allies at the beginning of the war, which allowed it to better withstand the attrition of costly planetary sieges and the First Order's grand offensives.

* * *

SPOTLIGHT: INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATON'S BOB-SERIES

While many historians and holovid producers will sing the praises of the war's guns and starfighters, few give attention to the logistical machine that kept the troops in the fight. Industrial Automaton's Beast of Burden (BOB) series of labor droids was one of the unsung heroes of the war. The BOB was a modular quadrupedal design capable of accomplishing a wide variety of tasks including but not limited to: hauling equipment, carrying support weaponry, carrying wounded, field repairs, salvage, mine-sweeping, and road work. BOB herds were a common sight behind the front lines where they assisted in the work of engineer battalions, artillery batteries, and vehicle maintenance personnel. During the invasion of Kaselta, Corellian rear-echelon units made extensive use of these droids, planing hilly terrain flat to construct massive roads and rail lines leading to the front lines. Remnant forces also used over a million BOBs to assist in the sieges of Jaemus, Entralla, Bescane, and Muunilinst, constructing many of the titanic fortifications that still mark those planets' landscapes today.

* * *

The First Order would not wait while Corellia and her allies prepared for war, however. In the weeks after the Treaty, the Seventh Fleet under Admiral Kurita advanced on Remnant space, aiming to take the shipyards of Jaemus and Entralla. First Order forces under Admiral Brom Sartus steamrolled over the disorganized New Republic defenders along the Celanon Spur and Namadii Corridor, laying siege to Dorin and Ord Mantell. Ixtlar and Aargau declared allegiance to the First Order shortly after and laid siege to Sarapin in an attempt to seize control over its energy industry and geothermal power supplies. Three days after the siege began, Sarapin sent out an open distress call.

There was no time to dawdle. On the Coreward front, Bel Iblis split the Corellian Navy into multiple carrier battle groups (CVBGs), each composed of a single _Endurance_ or MC80 backed up by a wolf pack of escorts whose job was to protect the carrier at all costs. They could not afford to enter close-range slugging matches with First Order ships, and thus, were ordered to focus on carrier doctrine. Carrier air wings would form the bulk of the CVBG's offensive punch, while the _Nebulae_ and smaller escorts would focus on defending the carrier from fighters and incoming warships. While the MC CVBGs would remain to defend Corellia and her neighbors, the _Endurance_ CVBGs would go on the hunt. The most notable actions of this phase: CVBG-2 under the carrier _Mantooine_ was sent to disrupt First Order landings at Port Aurum and Sarapin alongside a Mandalorian volunteer force from Clan Ordo; CVBG-8, led by _Vespid_ , would attempt to launch strikes deep into FO-held territory with her bomber squadrons; _Endeavor_ , the intended flagship of CVBG-6, had been damaged during the Hosnian Cataclysm, caught at the system's edge when the planet was destroyed, and would remain under repairs.

On the Imperial front, Pellaeon assigned Admiral Jonah Belisarius and High General Honorius Vauban to counter Kurita's advance. Belisarius and Vauban immediately ordered a fighting retreat of the thinly spread border forces, ordering them to fall back in good order towards Jaemus, Entralla, Bescane, and Muunilinst where they would establish a defense in depth to break the First Order's momentum. Around each star system, Belisarius and his fleet masters established a multilayered spherical defense. At the outermost sphere, patrol vessels and monitors would maintain a complex web of surveillance and report intrusions into the area of operations, retreating inwards towards the next sphere if attacked. The second sphere, composed of a heavier net of cruisers, light carriers, and destroyers, would form the first real layer of resistance, covering the first layer with long-ranged turbolaser and torpedo fire. Beneath that was the final orbital sphere, a densely-packed layer composed of Star Destroyers, armed satellites, Golan defense stations, and whatever superheavy assets Belisarius could acquire from storage, including the torpedo sphere _Annihilator_ and the Executor _Resolute_. Vauban and his generals oversaw ground defenses. They constructed multilayered trench networks, deployed vast numbers of prefabricated bases, and hastily built defense turrets and artillery positions. From orbit, the surfaces of Jaemus, Entralla, Bescane, and Muunilinst appeared to be covered in scratches (actually trench lines) and pockmarks (actually clusters of artillery pieces, large bunkers dug into the earth, or surface-to-orbit weapon installations). On the fortress world of Bescane, Vauban made his headquarters in the grand redoubt built into the planet's largest mountain range, ordering his engineer battalions to expand the mountains' extensive tunnel networks and hidden siege artillery positions. The orders given to Belisarius and Vauban were simple: Hold to the last man. Let none pass.


	3. Blood and Iron

BLOOD AND IRON

* * *

AUDIO LOG EXCERPT: ENTRALLA 1-A55-2XXXXX

"Admiral, I've got First Order inside the wire and in the halls. Contact lost with the lunar missile silos. I'm recalling all remaining ground forces to Rally Point Delta, but we don't have the numbers to hold. We need the fleet ASAP, over."

"First and second sphere assets are gone, General. All third sphere forces are engaged and there's so much damn dust clouding the surface that my satellites can't get clear orbitals for targeting."

"Forget the orbitals, Admiral. Down here, it's the apocalypse. Blow the moon, deny the lunar silos to the enemy before they start turning the missiles on Entralla."

"Understood. I'll see what we can do. Die standing, General."

"Die standing, Admiral."

* * *

The First Order's mid-year offensive in 34 ABY hammered the Imperial defenses on Jaemus, Entralla, and Muunilinst with surprising speed. At all three systems, the First Order's vanguard vessels overwhelmed outer sphere surveillance ships, pushing through the middle spheres' punishing wall of turbolaser fire and torpedoes in concentrated spears. The Imperial second spheres reaped a bloody toll among the First Order's own escorts as first sphere elements were pulled in from elsewhere in those systems to harry the edges of the First Order advance. Of the combat footage taken during the Battle of Entralla, perhaps the most spectacular was the one depicting the death of the First Order heavy cruiser _Barricade_ from the holocams of the Imperial destroyer _Onslaught_ , taken at the instant _Onslaught_ 's torpedoes compromised _Barricade's_ reactor compartment, briefly causing the birth of a miniature sun that would incinerate the frigates _Blackout_ and _Slipstream_ and sending out debris that would collide with and cripple the frigate _Cyclonus_.

But despite the valiant efforts of Entralla's fleet, there simply were not enough guns to halt the First Order advance. Within a day of system entry, the First Order task force sent to attack Entralla had breached the second sphere, engaging Admiral Reskin's heavies in low orbit and landing legions of troops on the planet's moon. The 412th Infantry Division and 808th Armored Division assigned to the lunar defense were dug in and prepared, their anti-air guns and missile batteries filling the moon's thin atmosphere with wrath and fury. The First Order's landing craft descended upon the less heavily defended southern hemisphere like a swarm of insects, the transports' fat bellies laden with shock troops and heavy armor. Many were torn apart by the volume of Imperial fire, tearing great flaming divots in the cratered lunar surface as they crashed, but there were simply too many to stop. Eventually, gun barrels overheated and stocks of coolant, SAMs, power cells, and solid ammunition ran dry. As General Ramius observed the enemy landings from his command center, he saw only one course of action left: hold the lunar anti-ship missile silos at all costs and spend as many of those missiles as possible.

The 412th and 808th held the moon's northern hemisphere, making their first stand at the equatorial forts and trenches. When they made first contact with the FO ground forces, they were horrified. The first wave to storm the trenches was not composed of stormtrooper divisions or tanks, but a rabble of decraniated goaded forward by shock prods and lashes, bearing little more than rebreather masks, improvised weapons, and, rarely, a rusted blaster or slugthrower. Many of the decraniated still wore uniforms and insignia that marked them as Imperial merchant marine crewmen. Again and again the decraniated hordes and their slavers stormed the trenches, only to be repulsed by the Imperials' overwhelming firepower, but by the fifteenth and final wave, ammunition, coolant, and spare gun barrels began to dwindle. Supply runners struggled to keep up with the constant demand along the front line as more and more called for resupply. And the decraniated were only the beginning, a distraction to exhaust Imperial supplies and draw attention away from the First Order's deployment of armor, artillery, and stormtrooper divisions.

Smoke and ion bombardments along the first equatorial line of defense blinded man and machine alike, and by the time they were able to react to the first wave of stormtroopers and tanks, it was too late. The enemy was upon them and in the trenches. Flame troopers led the way, burning the 412th out of the trenches and bunkers. Grenadiers followed closely behind, firing grenades over their comrades' heads into upcoming trenches full closely clustered defenders before the flamers moved in for the coup de grace. AT-ATs and AT-M6s traded fire with the 808th's armor, dug into hull-down positions behind the 412th's positions. The First Order AT-AT was mostly unchanged from the Galactic Empire's GCW models, save for some additional homogenous durasteel hull armor and an additional boarding ramp. This armor proved inadequate against the 808th's tanks and missiles, which were capable of frontally penetrating the enemy AT-ATs from a kilometer away. Advanced armor composites, ablative applique plates, and flash shield systems protected the Remnant armor from the worst of the AT-ATs' wrath at long range, frustrating most of the FO vehicle crews as they were forced to close the distance to have any hope of penetrating the Imperial vehicles. As the Remnant forces fell back to the next layer of fortifications, they left dozens of burned out AT-AT hulks in their wake. Some had simply been blasted straight through the command pod, while others were felled by leg shots then finished off by focused tank fire and artillery. The AT-M6s, however, had no problems in their advance. Their armor was proof against most Imperial weapons and their guns had enough power to laugh at the armor of any of the moon's defenders. These M6s advanced under a hail of fire that would have pulped lesser-armored vehicles. From the rear, Imperial artillery positions attempted to counter the M6 spearhead with a smoke bombardment followed by the launch of shells containing hypermatter mines. The mines proved highly effective at immobilizing the walkers, but supplies were limited and the siege walkers' ludicrous durability meant that the cargo they carried remained intact, if shaken. As the first M6's left foreleg disintegrated from a mine detonation, the defenders raised a ragged cheer, only for that cheer to be cut short as the walker's boarding ramps opened, disgorging a platoon of Death Troopers under cover of the remaining walkers. Counter-battery fire from the M6s and First Order's rearward artillery hammered the Imperial batteries, forcing the Remnant guns to relocate and leave the front line without long-ranged support.

The First Order's Death Troopers were elite fanatics, fearless under fire and equipped with some of the best weapons, armor, and cybernetics in the First Order arsenal. They charged hilltop gun nests and trenches with little regard for casualties or pain, storming the Imperial positions with flamers, radiation bombs, disruptors, and vibroblades. Colonel Jay Kartho of the 412th rallied the men on the eastern flanks of the battle, planting his regimental standard atop Hill 208 as First Order infantry advanced on his position. Kartho counter-charged alongside regimental bodyguard and command staff to buy time for medics to relocate his regiment's aid station, engaging in close combat with his opposite number and his Death Trooper retinue. Kartho, an accomplished swordsman in Bastion's noble courts, slew the eastern advance's commanding officer in single combat. He and his men tied up the enemy forces just long enough for 90% of the wounded to be evacuated. They were cut down shortly after by First Order return fire, Kartho dying last as he buried his broken sword into the chest of a First Order lieutenant. This was a microcosm of the war all along the lunar assault-futile acts of courage and honor even in the face of certain annihilation.

It simply wasn't enough. By the end of the first day, the lunar defense was on its last legs. The 808th's tanks and self-propelled artillery had all been destroyed and the remaining vehicle crews had been folded into the 412th to fill gaps in the line. The 412th itself was no better, now reduced to five thousand from the 25,000 at the battle's beginning. Supplies were scarce. Most of the 412th had run out of explosives and ammunition for their rifles and prepared to make their last stand with sidearms, close combat weapons, and their bare hands. Their backs were against the wall. The First Order flooded into the moon's polar fortress, leading with a wave of fresh decraniated. In lieu of actual weapons, these decraniated battled the last defenders in melee combat, often falling upon the wounded to cannibalize them under the commands of their controllers. The screams echoed down the empty halls of the polar fortress, unnerving the survivors. Ultimately, General Ramius ordered the Navy to destroy the moon, along with him, his remaining men, and First Order's lunar landing force. A barrage of anti-ship torpedoes destroyed the moon minutes after Ramius' final transmission, denying the lunar anti-ship missile silos to the First Order. All that remained of their sacrifice were the audio logs, armorcam footage, and orbital data of the battle transmitted to the Star Destroyer _Valiant_ , whose black box was recovered a year after the end of the First Order War.

In low orbit above Entralla, the fleet fared little better. The need to maintain a defensive holding pattern over the planet prevented the Empire's ships from making full use of their maneuverability, leaving them vulnerable to sniping from _Mandator_ _IV_ -class ships from beyond the effective range of the third sphere's guns. The _Mandator IV_ on its own was a poor vessel for most ship-to-ship combat scenarios, featuring a pitiful complement of anti-air guns, a pair of orbital autocannons, some tractor beams, and nothing else. It had poor fire arcs for naval gunnery duels, no fighter wing, and anti-air coverage so sparse that it may as well not have existed. But against stationary targets distracted by a tarpit of escorts, the _Mandator_ managed to present a considerable threat. The Remnant's Star Destroyers and Golan platforms were pounded to dust along with the First Order escorts and destroyers swarming them, opening the orbital perimeter wide open for ships to adopt a bombardment pattern above the northwestern continent. Unbeknownst to the Imperials at the time, most of the First Order's ships below cruiser size were entirely droid-crewed and thus totally expendable, rendering the issue of friendly fire from the _Mandator_ guns moot.

In poems and myths, writers often depict orbital bombardment as a glorious spectacle, a series of incendiary pillars of light terrifying in their grandeur and majesty, the halo of a spiteful god unleashing his wrath from on high. In truth, an orbital bombardment is an inglorious affair, as brief as it is ruinous as lasers blink in and out in rapid-fire fashion. Gazing upon an orbital bombardment rewards an observer with blindness, not awe. The ground beneath the First Order's bombardment was too unstable and prone to sinkholes to be suitable for the construction of heavy fortifications like shield generators and hypervelocity guns. Bases and cities caught under the First Order's guns lacked any means to defend themselves from the subsequent glassing. One million square kilometers of land burned, melted into a blackened chemical soup by the heat of the bombardment before hardening into a substance similar to volcanic glass. The ruination of the land was so complete that even today, ongoing restoration efforts have failed to return the first bombardment zone to habitable status. Before the glass field had even fully cooled, First Order landing craft launched, pouring into the hole in the planetary defenses and gathering in the uninhabited hills east of the bombardment zone, where they established a beachhead and began the construction of a base.

As the First Order built up its preliminary landing zone, the Imperial defenders prepared to counter-attack. A detachment of the 501st Legion's 212th Battalion had been attached to the defense. Stationed two hundred kilometers south of the bombardment zone's edge, the 212th's companies were the first to respond, air-dropping their infantry and light vehicles into the forests along the path of the First Order's expected advance. Under the cover of 212th gunships, the battalion's recon walkers, IFVs, and tank hunter platoons harassed the First Order forces that rolled down Highway 79 en route to the city of New Raia. Behind the 212th came the walkers, artillery, and tanks of the Imperial Army's 334th Armored Division. Imperial and First Order TIEs met in the heavens above, one side fighting to destroy the stream of landing craft and the other fighting to clear a path for bombing runs on New Raia. The 334th's main strengths dug in behind the Bridge of Saints, the last bridge on Highway 79 before the gates of New Raia. The 334th's engineers began the process of rigging the bridge, highway, and exits with explosives.

As the 212th's transports and gunships withdrew to New Raia to reload and refuel, however, a deal was struck. Entralla's planetary governor and his inner circle had been in secret communications with the First Order's Admiral Pretio, offering the planet in exchange for amnesty and a place in the First Order government. Unbeknownst to the Empire, Entralla and Jaemus had engaged in multiple business deals with First Order agents during the interbellum. Starship parts, blueprints, classified Imperial procurement files, shipping routes, and navigational data had all been leaked to the First Order in exchange for favors, cash, and other less savory rewards. By the time the 212th's air assets realized they were being targeted by friendlies, it was too late. SAMs and AA guns killed them all in one fell swoop. The siege artillery arrayed along New Raia's walls opened fire on the 334th while the ICBM silos deeper in the city launched strikes on the forests that sheltered the 212th ground assets awaiting the return of their CAS. All across Entralla, local planetary guard shot their former Imperial comrades in the back. Though some Imperial forces survived the first shots of betrayal, they lost control over Entralla's utlities, surface-to-orbit defenses, and spaceports. Some of these survivors fought a guerrilla war in the cities until they ran out of food, water, and ammunition, at which point they surrendered. These men and women were captured and converted into decraniated slaves. Many others chose to retreat to the countryside and fight to the bitter end, preferring to die of starvation, dehydration, exposure, disease, or combat rather than become shambling cybernetic horrors. As soon as the Entralla's planetary defenses began targeting the last Remnant forces in orbit, the battle was effectively over. There would be no stories of brave last stands or valiant counter-charges on Entralla as there were on the moon. All Remnant personnel at Entralla register in the Imperial archives today as killed in action or missing in action. The planetary governor and his staff were never seen again, though historians disagree on whether they simply disappeared into the First Order or were executed after the planet's surrender.

At Jaemus, Imperial forces were also betrayed, but the betrayal there was botched by the Imperial commanders' decision to separate the local and Imperial forces. There, the Imperials managed to put up a stronger response to the betrayal, regrouping and rallying in the capital city of the southernmost continent. Despite the Imperial fleet's complete annihilation at Jaemus, the defenders on the ground held out for a month before the First Order ground forces gave up and called in a virus bombing that wiped out all life on the continent. The defense of Muunilinst was initially successful thanks to the added firepower of a torpedo sphere, but Muunilinst's star system would remain under siege, encircled by First Order forces now based on Jaemus and Entralla. All that remained in Admiral Kurita's path was Bescane, the last line of defense before Bastion.

Belisarius and Vauban had their work cut out for them. If Bescane fell, Bastion almost certainly would follow. They could not fail, not this early in the fight. Fortunately for them, Bescane would be a tougher nut to crack than Jaemus, Entralla, and Muunilinst. It was a fortress world where every man and woman was trained with a rifle even before they reached the age of majority. The streets of the planet's cities were deliberately designed as a labyrinthine mess where invaders could easily be caught in interlocking kill-zones by defenders who learned to memorize their homeworld's endless nooks and crannies. Every person on Bescane was a member of the Imperial military or planetary militia, staunchly loyal and raised on a culture of unyielding discipline. Here, the First Order would fight a foe that matched it in fanaticism and determination. Here, the fate of Kurita's offensive would be decided. One would stand, one would fall.


	4. First Year's End

FIRST YEAR'S END

In contrast to the vicious, concentrated attrition warfare on the Imperial front, early-war action in the Coreward front was that of carrier battles, surgical commando raids, and small-scale planetary invasions. The FO Navy and Army in this theater were spread thin and far from their homeworlds' more robust supply chains, relying on allied planetary forces to handle the bulk of offensive operations. Most of these planetary forces lacked force projection capabilities at the start of the war, limiting the size of their planetary invasion forces.

The First Order's anti-air weaponry, sensors, and starfighters were woefully underdeveloped. The common TIE/FO lacked a hyperdrive, meaning that hyperdrive-equipped starfighters could strike at First Order fleets with little danger of pursuit, much like in the Galactic Civil War. While the FO's _Resurgent_ -class Star Destroyer outgunned nearly every other warship in the galaxy, it was an expensive beast with low sub-light speed, massive manpower requirement, outdated targeting systems, and a long production time. First Order ECCM, AA guns, and missiles were only barely better than the Rebellion-era Empire's, leaving FO gunnery crews effectively blind when faced with the advanced ECM systems carried by modern enemy ships.

CVBGs 2 and 5 launched numerous long-range raids during their patrols in the hyperlanes around Sarapin, destroying millions of tons of shipping in the process. Wolf packs of Duros and Givin stealth ships ambushed First Order supply vessels along the Corellian Run, Corellian Trade Spine, and parts of the Hydian Way in an attempt to deprive the First Order's most distant outposts of crucial food, water, and other materiel. Duros Marine Raiders and Givin Voidsmen accompanied these stealth raids to assist in boarding actions, spaceborne demolitions, and limited landings. In the third quarter of 34 ABY, Duros Raiders destroyed the First Order's asteroid mining operations and forge stations in the Sadrimma System, cutting off the supply of metals and heavy-duty industrial machinery to Ixtlar and Aargau. A few days later, Givin Voidsmen enacted a daring raid on First Order warships docked at Puerto Real, infiltrating the system defenses by stowing away on a captured bulk freighter. Despite heavy casualties, the Voidsmen successfully demolished a number of FO destroyers as well as the _Resurgent_ -class SD _Rampart_.

At Sarapin, the First Order siege was underway. To break the planetary blockade and disrupt the FO's troop landings, Corellian CVBGs launched long-range starfighter raids from outside the Sarapin System. On the first day, torpedo strikes from CVBG-2's fighter wings crippled the heavy cruiser _Snapdragon_ and the _Mandator_ -class _Spaceshot_ while CVBG-5's fighters intercepted and destroyed an FO supply convoy en route to Sarapin. Admiral Caywin, the Sarapin siege fleet's commanding officer, was hesitant to spread his forces out searching for the Corellian carrier groups, choosing instead to assign patrols close to the system's edge around the points from which the Corellian starfighters entered. Unbeknownst to Caywin, these raids were a distraction from the CEF and Clan Ordo landing force entering from the other side of the system.

Under the cover of the system's asteroid belt, a trio of stealth ships from CVBG-2 approached the planet as the fighter raids drew the FO fleet's attention. These stealth ships made their insertion above the hemisphere opposite the FO's landing zones, dropping the Corellian Marine Corps' 1st Regiment along with Wraith Squadron and a trinary of Ordo clanner commandos. While the 1st Regiment's headquarters company set up its headquarters in Sarapin's capital city of Mount Corvast, the rest of the Corellian-Mandalorian landing force spread out to support the Sarapin Planetary Guard's forces over the next few weeks, concentrating particularly on the Pahoehoe Lowlands, Kosmire Valley, and Sacris Mons war zones, where the Ixtlar-Aargau forces had focused their own efforts. Outnumbered and outgunned, the SPG could not hope to take on the First Order forces in open warfare, choosing instead to funnel the enemy into carefully prepared kill-zones by mining major roads, collapsing bridges, and bombarding the cooled surfaces of lava lakes. The 1st Corellian Marines' 2nd and 3rd Battalions destroyed supply depots in the Lowlands, depriving the Ixtlar-Aargau forces of access to water, bacta, coolant, and fuel. The Corellian Marines' 1st Battalion ambushed the 33rd Ixtlar Dragoons and 87th Ixtlar Guards at the mouth of the Kosmire Valley. Though outnumbered, the veteran 1st Battalion inflicted heavy casualties on the relatively inexperienced Ixtlar forces, creating an opening through which the Wraiths could quietly slip to assassinate the CO of the Ixtlar ground forces. At Sacris Mons, Clan Ordo forces and the Corellian Marines' 4th Battalion flanked the 103rd Aargau Rifles from the south, destroying the Aargau artillery pinning a battalion of SPG in place. With these reinforcements, the SPG at Sacris Mons launched a counter-attack, obliterating the 103rd. Following these defeats, the Ixtlar-Aargau force made a fighting retreat to its landing craft, harried all the way back by Corellian, Ordo, and SPG hit-and-run attacks. The Wraiths managed to shoot down a number of the retreating Ixtlar-Aargau transports, but were prevented from destroying _all_ of those transports by the timely arrival of the First Order's elite Purgatorio and Paradiso Squadrons, who were able to hold the Wraiths off long enough for a handful of transports to escape to the relative safety of their home fleet.

In space, CVBGs 2 and 5 continued to outmaneuver Caywin's fleet. The Ixtlar-Aargau ships, built with GCW-era tech, were lacking in their ECCM and targeting systems. The more advanced ECM of the T-65XJ and BTL-S7 allowed the Corellian fighters to launch long-ranged torpedo strikes with near-impunity. After losing three squadrons to the reuse of system entry points, Corellian fighter wings changed their tactics, jumping to other star systems adjacent to Sarapin first to attack the Sarapin System from other angles, slipping past the Ixtlar-Aargau patrols to continue harassing the main body of the enemy fleet. In the final week of the siege, the Y-wings of strike fighter squadron 33 (VFA-33) destroyed the enemy flagship, the heavy cruiser _Dirge_ , with all hands. The Ixtlar-Aargau fleet retreated shortly after the _Dirge's_ destruction.

Sarapin would be the first of Corellia's victories, though it was not without cost. Wraith Squadron had lost half their number in combat, prompting CEF Command to order them home to replenish the losses, as well as to raise additional Wraith teams. 30% of the 1st Corellian Marines Regiment had been killed in action and 23% more would be in sickbay for weeks due to a mix of combat injuries and exposure to the hazards of Sarapin's volcanic environment. The Mandalorians and SPG did not disclose their casualty figures. Exposure to the ash and heat of Sarapin's volcanic environs also severely damaged the Wraiths' surviving X-wings and most of the landing craft. Though all forces involved had gone to war in environmentally sealed suits, current-generation cooling and air filtration systems proved inadequate for extended periods of time in the field, prompting the CEF to commission the development of new hazardous environment gear. Corellian naval losses, however, were limited to the destruction of a few fighter squadrons. In contrast, the Ixtlar-Aargau ground forces suffered 70% casualties according to the historian Breyarchus Tam. Ixtlar-Aargau naval losses were also relatively severe, though the exact tonnage lost in the battle is still disputed by historians today. The loss of the Sarapin landings and the _Mandator IV_ also forced the First Order to call off its planned invasion of Port Aurum.

On Alaris Prime, a combined force of FO Special Forces, Death Troopers, and Trandoshan mercenaries attempted to assassinate Chieftain Attichitcuk. With the assistance of one of Attichutcuk's political rivals, Chieftain Gorsharruk, FO and Trandoshan kill-teams infiltrated the planet piecemeal by stowing away on a series of bulk freighters owned by a shipping corporation run by Gorsharruk's clan. Attichitcuk had been scheduled to tour the Wookiee Army training camps on the planet to bolster morale before the troops departed for war. As the kill-teams united with Gorsharruk's agents deep within the planet's great forests, they hatched a plan to ambush Attichitcuk's delegation en route to Fort Rrawarrook. FOSF fighters, hidden amid the clouds of the gas giant Alaris, launched a quick and showy raid on Alaris Prime's spaceport, performing a gun run over the landing fields before being "repelled" by planetary militia starfighters piloted by Gorsharruk's clanmates. With the skies threatened, Attichitcuk's bodyguards forced the chieftain to travel to Fort Rrawarrook by land, where the FO's ground teams lay in wait. The ambush was to be set at the Arrakorro Bridge, where the FO forces would use explosives to destrpy the bridge with Attichitcuk's convoy on it. If the bridge collapse failed, additional explosives set on the trees at either end of the bridge would detonate, toppling the trees and creating roadblocks to trap the convoy in a kill-zone. The plan was unsuccessful, however, due to the Trandoshans' failure to properly set their explosives on the bridge and the tenacity of Attichitcuk and his bodyguards. The bridge explosives, improperly wired, failed to detonate, prompting the switch to the roadblock plan. The chieftain's bodyguards, a unit of Wookiee Rangers from the 3rd Alaris Prime Ranger Regiment, fought their way clear of the roadblock on foot under cover from the convoy's guns, overpowering the Trandoshans at the end of the bridge then turning around to make their stand against the First Order troops advancing from the other side of the bridge as the wounded chieftain was dragged away from the fighting by his aides. Eventually, Attichitcuk and his aides were found by a search-and-rescue air patrol from Fort Rrawarrook and secured within the base. The FO forces had failed to accomplish their primary objective, though they did complete their secondary objectives by killing the planetary government officials accompanying Attichitcuk, the Jedi Knight Lowbacca, and General Korwarrump of the 1st Alaris Prime Army Group. Despite heavy casualties, the FOSF and Death Trooper teams successfully escaped from Alaris Prime. The Trandoshans were either killed in action or captured by hunter-killer patrols from Fort Rrawarrook. The survivors revealed under interrogation the complicity of Gorsharruk's clan, leading the Wookiee interplanetary government to sentence the traitorous chieftain to death and his Wookiee co-conspirators to imprisonment. Attichitcuk's Ranger bodyguards died to a man and would later be granted marks of honor on the regimental record.

Elsewhere along the Coreward front, New Republic forces attempted to rally and counter-attack with limited success. Mon Cal aquanauts and Gungan frogmen repelled FO landings on the ocean world Belkis, while the New Republic's Space Demolition Teams (SDTs) successfully destroyed FO naval resupply stations along the Celanon Spur, causing the postponement of the invasion of Ord Mantell. The movement of fresh troops into the Aressa Salient stalled the FO's advance in that front as well. However, the NR also lost many of its precious few veteran units in the 203rd, 122nd, and 508th Armies during the siege of Dorin. While Dorin remained in NR hands, its bloodied and exhausted defenders would need to be reinforced before long. The FO fleet and army besieging Dorin was not in much better shape, however. They, too, had suffered heavy casualties and reserve forces originally stationed at Ansion had already been committed to other war zones. Other FO troops along the front lines of the war with the New Republic had also found themselves similarly stalled. Exhausted by the rapid pace of their advance, planetary rebellions, and the slow pace of the FO's logistical expansion, the coreward FO fleets were forced to halt their advances to await relief by fresh troops and supplies.

With these events, the first year of the war came to a close. Imperial Remnant forces stood firm on Bescane and Muunilinst, despite the losses of Jaemus, Entralla, and most of the Empire's western border. Corellia and her coreward allies successfully stalled First Order offensives along the Corellian Run. First Order forces, despite some setbacks, pushed deep into NR borders, claiming large swathes of territory but spreading themselves thin as a result.

* * *

SPOTLIGHT: FIRST ORDER INFANTRY

At first glance, the First Order's infantry forces appear to closely resemble the Galactic Empire's what with their similar usage of white-armored, faceless legions. Upon further inspection, though, the FO infantry have become a very different beast. Where the Galactic Empire and Imperial Remnant employed their Stormtrooper Corps as an elite minority among a larger Imperial Army, the Stormtrooper Corps formed the backbone of the FO's infantry strengths. In a deliberate effort to style itself after the glories of the old Empire, the FO did away with the less romantic idea of the Imperial Army, choosing instead to model its regular infantry after the fearsome legions in white that had been the darlings of Galactic Imperial media. Though elements of the old Imperial Army remained in the form of vehicle crew uniforms, the face of the FO's foot troops was the Stormtrooper Corps.

Early in the war, a great many Corellian Treaty forces had questioned how the FO had so much manpower. Most of the NR's outermost worlds and a handful of the IR's border forces had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of troops and capital ships thrown at their defenses. A cursory inspection of FO corpses would provide an answer mere days after the war began: clones. The FO had made extensive use of Spaarti clones to pad out its numbers. Historians disagree on how the FO had acquired its knowledge of Spaarti cloning. Breyarchus Tam speculates that the knowledge came from acquisition of copies of Grand Admiral Thrawn's journals and personal files, which may have detailed the location of the Mount Tantiss cloning facility that once existed on Wayland. Kandroval argues that the galaxy had known of Spaarti cloning since the Clone Wars and that the FO had simply taken the data from Cartao or found a cloning cylinder to reverse-engineer during the Operation Cinder retreat. Some others believe that the FO's leaders had been privy to Palpatine's aborted Dark Empire project, and thus had a number of intact and unused Spaarti cylinders to take back to the Unknown Regions during Operation Cinder. And still others believe that the FO had simply acquired a number of Spaarti cylinders from the Hutts.

The FO Stormtrooper Corps was composed of a mixture of clones and trueborn conscripts, numerous and fanatical but notably lacking in individual quality compared to the Kaminoan clones of the GAR and the smaller, elite Stormtrooper Corps of the Empire and Remnant. Led by one or a handful of lavishly armored Captains-General, the Corps was the unsubtle hammer of the FO military. What it lacked in tactical prowess, it more than made up for in sheer numbers.

The most accomplished and zealous members of the Stormtrooper Corps were offered the chance to try out for the ranks of the Death Troopers, successors to the original Empire's own Death Trooper units. With access to higher-quality weaponry, classified surgical enhancements, and top-of-the-line cybernetics, the Death Troopers were the cream of the Corps. Death Troopers filled a variety of operational niches in First Order doctrine. Some served as bodyguards and advisers to important officers. Their near-unshakable morale made them ideally suited to act as shock troops. Their skills were also often called upon in commando actions, infiltrating enemy lines to sabotage critical resources and assassinate VIPs. However, the majority of commando work in the First Order military would be performed by First Order Special Forces.

FOSF, separate from the Army and Navy, was composed primarily of pilot-commandos inspired by the old Empire's Inferno Squadron model, which in turn was an attempt to ape the original Wraith Squadron. Trained in both starfighter combat and infiltration, the FOSF were a constant thorn in the side of Second Corellian Treaty forces. In contrast to the regular Stormtrooper Corps, the FOSF were equipped with high-quality gear on par with the commandos of other armies. The TIE/sf, unlike the common TIE/fo, had a hyperdrive and ordnance launchers, allowing FOSF squadrons to launch long-ranged strikes against enemy warships like their Corellian-aligned counterparts. Their best units, Purgatorio and Paradiso Squadrons, would spend most of their time in the early war on the Coreward front but the majority of early-war FOSF units were assigned to the Remnant front.

Failed Spaarti clones, criminals, prisoners of war, and particularly problematic personnel from the regular military made up the hordes of decraniated slaves that dropped in the waves preceding the arrival of the stormtroopers. These near-feral helots were little more than a poorly armed wall of meat on the battlefield, intended to soak up enemy ammunition and wear down enemy morale before the more important stormtroopers came in behind them to deal the coup de grace. The brainchild of Cornelius Evazan, the decraniated were a common and terrifying sight on the battlefields of the First Order War. Reports vary on the status of Doctor Evazan. Some claim that he died in 0 BBY. Some claim that he was resuscitated and continued work as late as 9 ABY. Others claim that he never died in the first place. Evazan was not quiet about the development of the decraniated, marketing them in catalogs to black market buyers during the Rebellion Era. The source of the FO's knowledge of decraniation is unconfirmed and subject to heavy speculation. Perhaps someone in the old Empire had gained knowledge of the practice through his or her underworld connections and purchased some decraniated for reverse-engineering. Perhaps Evazan had created a few for some Moff under the table, and these Rebellion-era slaves were later passed on to ImpInt for autopsy.

Most terrifying of all were the Knights of Ren. Empowered by the Dark Side and equipped with cutting-edge starfighters, the Knights of Ren cut a bloody swathe through the enemies of the First Order. The Knights will be covered in detail in a future chapter about the major Force-sensitive organizations of the war.

FO infantry armament was a mixed bag. The F-11D blaster rifle packed a punch at close range but use of cheap metals and polymers made it flimsy and unreliable, and the fragility of its scope made it poorly suited for long-range fire compared to its counterparts in other armies. When fielded in the numbers employed by the First Order, however, it was every bit as lethal as any other blaster rifle. The FWMB-10 repeater was similarly mediocre, with good cooling systems but an ungainly design that made it uncomfortable to wield and cheap construction like the F-11D. The D-93 flamethrower, however, was widely agreed by scholars and troops to be a highly effective tool with longer range than any other infantry flamer on the market. The Z6 riot baton and Executioner laser axe, never intended for frontline service, are universally regarded as being rather silly. Though capable of surviving contact with a lightsaber blade, they were far too situational and unwieldy to be worth taking over more ammunition, grenades, or a humble vibroblade.


	5. Knights of the New Republic

KNIGHTS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC

The First Order War was a turbulent time for the Force-sensitive orders of the galaxy. Following the Empire's collapse, a great deal of Force traditions surfaced across the galaxy, free to worship and work as they saw fit. The New Jedi Order was the first and most prominent tradition to rise from the Empire's ashes, but it was only one of many. This section delves into some detail regarding the early-war efforts of some of the era's most notable Force traditions.

* * *

THE NEW JEDI ORDER

"Why are we still here? Just to suffer? Every night, I can feel my leg and my arm, even my fingers. The body I've lost, the comrades I've lost, the _family_ I've lost won't stop hurting. It's like they're all still there. You feel it, too, don't you? I'm gonna make them give back our past." - Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker

Before the war, the NJO's future seemed bright. The Galactic Civil War's abrupt end had allowed Luke and his founding team to expand the Order in relative peace. The discovery of Darth Vader's personal treasury on Vjun, now partially Luke's by dint of inheritance laws, had granted the NJO a considerable sum of wealth to bankroll its expansion. Luke's natural charm and the NJO's efforts to assist in galactic reconstruction earned the NJO many friends and allowed it to ride out the controversy created by the revelation of his and Leia's relation to Darth Vader. A large influx of eager applicants and the births of children such as Ben Skywalker (13 ABY), Valin Horn (13 ABY), and the Solo twins (5 ABY) were taken as good signs of growth to come. All of that turned out for naught when Jacen Solo and a number of his fellow students committed the Ossus Massacre, a bloodbath which nearly destroyed the NJO.

The early NJO's optimism and innocence had been swept away with the deaths of Mara Jade-Skywalker, Streen, Kam Solusar, Tionne Solusar, Corran Horn, Jaina Solo, and dozens of others. Luke Skywalker was officially recorded as missing in action. Out of the founding generation, only Kyle Katarn remained to continue the fight, along with a handful of surviving students from later years. To survive this turbulent era, the NJO remnant was forced to become a much more militant order, placing ever greater emphasis on the idea of the Jedi as a _k_ _night_. Plowshares became swords. Simple robes and civilian attire gave way to armor, camouflage, and flight suits. Lightsabers made room for shields, blasters, grenades, and knives. Consular ships were mothballed, replaced with starfighters. Given the number of Galactic Civil War veterans in the ranks of the NJO's first-generation instructors, perhaps fewer people should have been surprised by this shift. Gotar Welke, a war correspondent from Talus, expressed surprise at his first sighting of Kyle Katarn, who had just returned from a patrol clad in "mud-soaked woodland fatigues and blaster-burned armor, a battered rifle slung over one shoulder and a dented lightsaber hanging from his hip." Not quite the image one would expect from the NJO's big boss, but an understandable one nonetheless given the circumstances. At the time of these events, Welke and Katarn were on the jungle planet of Regenwald, a particularly hard-fought theater with an inhospitable climate.

This image, however, was not an entirely accurate representation of all Jedi at all times during the war. When stealth was not an option, the NJO often took to the field as knights in shining armor. Inspired by certain holos of Obi-Wan Kenobi at the height of the Clone Wars, Jedi like Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, and Valin Horn often dropped into hotly contested war zones clad in full-body armor. The most popular options were the Corellian Marine Corps' spaceborne drop suit, which could be easily acquired from the CEF supply chain, and Round Table Industries' now-iconic Mk II Paladin suit, which offered a more comfortable custom-tailored fit and superior protection against the energized blades of the Knights of Ren. The Paladin armor's striking good looks certainly didn't hurt, either.

The NJO's departure from tradition, however, resulted in heavy criticism from both the media and the separate Gatalentan Jedi Order. People expected Jedi to dress and fight like Jedi, and many believed that the NJO's more pragmatic, militant approach spat on the legacy of its predecessor. The deaths of most of the NJO's diplomats during the Ossus Massacre certainly did not help public relations, either. Of course, it was rather difficult to hold to tradition on the battlefields of the 30s ABY. Jedi Knights Ras Kyne and Bereth'an were killed by snipers shortly after igniting their lightsabers during the siege of Torryn's Landing. In an effort to raise civilian morale, Knight Briseia Tembe donned the iconic robes of the Old Order during the evacuation of Linth, only to meet her end at the hands of concentrated artillery fire. Rosh Penin also very nearly met an embarrassing end on Rhen Var when his robes caught on a rocky outcropping during a run to cover. And of course, whenever the Knights of Ren took to the field, they prioritized known Jedi targets every time. After such incidents, the few remaining Jedi unsurprisingly took further steps to become less distinct or better protected on the battlefield. The old robes were banned from field use entirely and the lightsaber was kept sheathed until absolutely necessary to better maintain the element of surprise. That said, lightsabers never completely left the Jedi arsenal and remained potent weapons when used wisely. As far as melee weapons and breaching tools went, the lightsaber still reigned supreme. In a pinch, the lightsaber was also a potent can opener, able to penetrate the armor of most First Order vehicles if the Jedi was skilled/lucky enough to get close. The First Order's heavy use of melee-focused assets like decraniated, riot troopers, executioners, and Knights of Ren also ensured that lightsabers still saw plenty of use, even if in a slightly reduced state compared to the Clone Wars.

Another difference between the NJO and its predecessor was its integration into the military chain of command. In the Old Republic, Jedi led armies as generals. Even padawans occasionally commanded troops in the old days. NJO members adopted a different stance. Padawans were excluded from the fight entirely and instructed to continue their studies on the home front, keeping the scholasticism of the pre-war Order alive in some fashion. Knights joined the enlisted ranks, with the most experienced rising to reach the pay and duties of NCOs. Master Katarn himself only had company-level authority at most. Katarn harbored no illusions about his or his knights' qualifications. The NJO was still in its infancy and neither he nor his students were even remotely qualified to lead entire armies. Nevertheless, Jedi Knights remained a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, inspiring their allies and putting the fear of the Force into their enemies.

* * *

THE KNIGHTS OF REN

"Foolishness, cousin. Foolishness. Might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself." - Kylo Ren

The founding generation of the Knights of Ren primarily consisted of the Jedi students that Jacen Solo (hereafter referred to as Kylo Ren) convinced to betray the New Jedi Order prior to the outbreak of war. These traitor Jedi merged with the last surviving remnants of the old Imperial Inquisition to form the first generation of knights. Like their NJO counterparts, the KOR did not exclusively wield the iconic lightsaber, although this was often due to incomplete lightsaber training. With the exception of Kylo Ren and former Inquisitors, most knights tended to wield energized vibroblades in ground combat. Where some NJO preferred to blend in with the crowd, the KOR as a whole embraced the distinctive garb of garden-variety Dark Side users, proudly entering battle in black robes and masks or full suits of black armor. Blasters and explosives were not forbidden outright, but the First Order's knights generally still preferred to engage their foes in old-fashioned melee on the ground. In the air and in space, they had almost exclusive access to the TIE/vn Silencer starfighter, widely feared among the Corellian Treaty navies. Though exceedingly rare and expensive, the TIE Silencer was superior to nearly every other fighter in frontline service at the start of the war, barring the similarly rare TIE Defender found in elite Remnant units like the 181st Fighter Wing.

Though officially separate from the First Order chain of command, the KOR held authority equivalent to company-level officers and above. As pilots, field officers, assassins, and duelists, they could almost always be relied upon to carve a bloody swathe through their foes. However, their methods and visibility made them priority targets. Exact casualty figures are unavailable, but data pulled from the Imperial Remnant Statistical Bureau and New Republic Ministry of Defense indicates that they suffered from a higher turnover rate than their Jedi counterparts. Their recruitment methods remain unknown today, so we can only speculate at the means they used to replenish their losses. Whatever the case, those recruitment techniques demonstrated greater quantitative success than the NJO's but lesser qualitative success. The Knights found no shortage of corruptible Force-sensitive recruits out in the galaxy. Their promises of power, the Knights' vast stores of plundered wealth, and the First Order's meteoric ascent to the galactic stage offered a seemingly easier path than the Jedi way. After all, who didn't want to play on the winning team? On the battlefield, however, the Knights' lax disciplinary standards resulted in high casualties. The new recruits lacked restraint, often charging straight into open combat and seeking out Jedi wherever they could, heedless of the dangers posed by artillery, snipers, and massed automatic fire. The newborn Knights of Ren who _did_ manage to corner a Jedi often found their light-side counterparts to be far more tenacious than expected, and almost always needed a numerical advantage to prevail. Kylo Ren and his first-generation Knights, however, were an entirely different story. They were widely considered on par with their Jedi cousins and rightly feared as some of the most dangerous combatants in the galaxy.

Unlike the NJO, the Knights of Ren had the numbers and resources to not just maintain a scholarly tradition but expand it, tapping into the mysteries of the Dark Side of the Force during the war. Under the tutelage of their ex-Inquisitorial elders, the KOR undertook numerous expeditions to gather Force artifacts and recover old Imperial research data. Though they could not match the masters of old, Knights of Ren scholars were able to attain some knowledge of Sith alchemy. KOR alchemists used such knowledge to create bio-weapons for the FO, including the virus bombs used on Remnant forces in the first year of the war, as well as a horrific menagerie of abominable mutants unleashed upon the FO's enemies later in the war. Holocrons, old Sith literature, and other artifacts also found their way into the archives of the Knights' stronghold, the most notable being the helm and glove of Darth Vader.

* * *

THE NUNS OF G'AAV'AAR'OON

"I'll save your life even if it kills you." - Sister Morningale

Pious and peaceful, the Nuns of G'aav'aar'oon worked as healers for the New Republic, Gamorr, and Corellia during the war. From the asteroid convent of G'aav'aar'oon, sisters-errant sallied forth to lend their services to the descendants of the old Rebellion, using their talents in the Force to repair wounds and minds alike behind the front lines. Once a minor all-Gamorrean order, the Nuns' ranks expanded in the interbellum and in wartime as non-Gamorrean volunteers entered their ranks. The scale of the casualties inflicted during the war put considerable pressure on the medical facilities of Corellia, the New Republic, and their allies. Conventional medical personnel were often overburdened with patients, and medical supplies could not always reliably reach heavily contested war zones. Sanitation was difficult to maintain as medical staff had to rush the cleaning of beds, bacta tanks, and other equipment to accommodate the constant stream of new wounded. The Nuns, with their Force talents, were able to bypass most of the material needs of medical care and were often able to provide aid when mundane supplies ran short, making them a welcome sight wherever they went. The Nuns were also beloved for their skills at alleviating the stress and mental trauma of war. On the battlefields of the 30s ABY, there are countless horrors and sensations that can break the minds of even the most stoic of men. The sensory overload of full-scale planetary war, the grief of losing your comrades, and the shadowy grip of the Dark Side were all omnipresent issues among the troops. The Nuns, however, seemed to be more able than most conventional doctors when it came to putting patients at ease and helping them cope, however temporarily, with the myriad mental issues that could arise from the meat grinder of modern galactic war.

On the battlefield, the Nuns' oaths prevented them from carrying lethal weaponry. Though they were theoretically allowed to carry blaster pistols set to stun, most eschewed such weaponry, preferring to either load up on more medical equipment or simply reduce the amount of gear weighing them down. While this lack of weaponry was initially opposed by the troops, their talents and their staunch refusal to leave a wounded man behind quickly changed opinions of their policies. Many would brave storms of automatic fire and artillery barrages alongside the fighting troops to reach the wounded. And if necessary, the Nuns did not shy away from carrying ammunition to the front, spotting for artillery, or keeping watch at night alongside the fighting troops. Aside from the Jedi, the Nuns of G'aav'aar'oon would become perhaps the most beloved of the Force orders involved in the fight.

* * *

THE GATALENTAN JEDI ORDER

Gatalenta had historically maintained a close connection with the Old Jedi Order, contributing many recruits to the OJO's ranks over the years and incorporating Jedi legends and teachings into the planet's culture. After the Galactic Civil War, Gatalenta was one of the first stops Luke Skywalker made in his journey to build the NJO. For reasons unknown, the Gatalentans did not join the NJO, preferring instead to kick-start their own Jedi Order, albeit one more closely adherent to the OJO. The GJO remained strongly loyal to the New Republic, even as secession and war tore the fledgling nation apart. NJO members reportedly maintained a healthy respect for the Gatalentans' talents in academia, swordplay, and the arts, but personalities, cultures, and ideologies often clashed, leaving the two Jedi Orders as split as the Corellians and New Republic.

On the battlefield, the GJO performed a similar role to the NJO for the New Republic, albeit with higher placements within the military chain of command. Like the Jedi Order of old, GJO knights often served at platoon-level command or higher. This was a boon to the undermanned officer corps of the New Republic, which had lost many of its members and its primary academy during the Hosnian Cataclysm. However, the Gatalentans' initial inexperience and preference for relatively straightforward Clone Wars-era tactics led to severe casualties in a number of battles. On the front lines, the GJO were every bit as dangerous in a melee as their NJO and KOR cousins, reaping a bloody toll among their enemies. Their refusal to adopt widespread ranged weaponry or body armor, however, resulted in a higher death rate than the NJO's.

In terms of image, the GJO presented a far more marketable picture to the media and civilian populace than Katarn's NJO did. Their greater numbers made them more visible than the NJO in general, and their use of OJO doctrine and uniform made them instantly recognizable for propaganda purposes. Unlike the NJO, the Gatalentans' diplomatic arm had not suffered in any way during the prelude to war, allowing the GJO's recruiters to maximize the public relations angle while the NJO spent most of the early war at a breakeven point in its recruitment-to-death ratio.

* * *

THE MATUKAI

Between the wars, the Matukai had been on the up and up. Recruitment rates had steadily risen in the interbellum now that Force-sensitive populations were no longer being snapped up by widespread OJO recruitment or Inquisitorial agents. The NJO had been content to live and let live, refraining from infringing upon the turf of Matukai cells. The Matukai had always preferred to keep their numbers small anyway. Official galactic census records indicate that the Matukai Order had been at its historical peak during the interbellum, numbering in the hundreds in 30 ABY compared to the fifty or sixty members the Order would have at its previous peak in the Old Republic era.

Due to their decentralized nature, the Matukai managed to avoid sustaining heavy casualties during the First Order's expansion. They tended to operate in small cells of three to five, spread out across the galaxy. While a few cells might be exterminated here and there by the First Order's agents, most managed to escape the worst of the war's opening weeks. Some chose to remain in isolation, practicing their faith and training as they normally did in peacetime far from the front lines. Some joined the New Republic, the Second Corellian Treaty forces, or local planetary militias. A few who found themselves behind First Order lines tried to take the fight to the FO, though these lone cells were rarely successful unless they made contact with other rebel groups. Matukai doctrine heavily emphasized physical training and bodily purity, which often led to many practitioners eschewing conventional weaponry to focus purely on the physicality of melee combat. Though these Matukai warriors could put up a solid fight against the Knights of Ren, they were understandably hard-pressed to deal with massed blaster fire and armored vehicles. The order's small numbers and less-than-stellar record-keeping, however, make further study of their wartime activities difficult.

* * *

THE JENSAARAI

The Jensaarai Order was a relatively minor contributor to the war. Though the Jensaarai's wartime presence was small, it is still enough to warrant a quick mention. A few initiates had chosen to work with the New Jedi Order as part of a joint pre-war study effort, but all of these transfer students were killed during the Ossus Massacre. The main body of the Jensaarai Order had the good fortune of being on the opposite side of the galaxy from the First Order, allowing them to operate unmolested thanks to the buffer provided by New Republic, Imperial Remnant, and Corellian Treaty space. Due to a relative lack of resources and their distance from the fighting, most Jensaarai chose to stay close to home, helping to police the Quence Sector and nearby territories as they had before the war. About a third of the Jensaarai, however, opted to join the war against the First Order. Some attempted to fight alongside the New Republic but faced distrust and hostility from the Gatalentan Jedi Order, who considered their brushes with Sith philosophy to be heretical. Those who joined the Corellian Treaty armies as combat auxiliaries found a warmer reception from the NJO. They acquitted themselves in much the same fashion as their NJO counterparts. Jensaarai armor was considered among the best in the galaxy, offering solid protection against energized blades, shrapnel, and blasters while remaining extremely comfortable. Each suit of armor was a unique work of art customized by its owner. But this came with its own shortfalls as well. Jensaarai armor, custom-tailored to a degree far greater than nearly any other suit on the market, was difficult to maintain due to having few standardized parts and the high cost of shipping spare components from the Quence Sector to the front lines. As the war continued, Jensaarai away from home became increasingly reliant on third-party suppliers, cannibalizing spare suits, or sticking with the bare-bones generic armored frame that formed the baseline of the full Jensaarai suit.


	6. Eternal, Shiny, and Beskar

ETERNAL, SHINY, AND BESKAR

It wouldn't be a galactic war if the Mandalorians weren't trying to join in on the fun. Every clan, even the least mercantile-minded ones, saw the post-Hosnian galaxy as a fat, tempting stack of credits, but none could agree on which side to support. The Mand'alor at the start of the war, Bo-Katan Kryze, had hoped to keep the then-neutral clans out of the war, citing economic concerns and the risk of attracting the attention of Starkiller Base. Economic recovery from the Galactic Civil War had been slow in most clan holdings, with most of the clan worlds' natural resources depleted from millennia of waging costly wars. Infrastructure on Mandalore and many other clan-aligned worlds was underdeveloped or still damaged from the last war. She feared that the expense of engaging in yet another conflict at this time would cripple the clan economies. While she was more sympathetic to the New Republic cause, Kryze was reluctant to commit the clans to the aid of a nation that many called "the Sick Man of the Core." Clans like Vizsla, Saxon, Spar, Kerensky, Osis, and Hazen clamored to contract with the First Order, hoping to secure colonization and mining rights in the Unknown Regions as well as fight the famous Jedi Knights. Clans like Ordo, Bralor, Cadera, Wren, and Chorn argued in favor of contracting with the New Republic or Corellian Treaty to fight the Knights of Ren, secure coreward resource rights, or in the case of Wren, honor past alliances. Still others, like Fett and Kalasa, favored political neutrality and doing business with everyone. Clan Skirata chose to adopt an isolationist stance and would not be seen for most of the war, aside from occasionally offering temporary use of its territories as neutral grounds for diplomatic talks.

As always, the clans were split. As conflicting news of Starkiller Base's destruction spread through the galaxy in the weeks after the Corellian Secession, the divides only became stronger, especially as contract offers began to flow in from across the galaxy. Chieftains Carud Osis and Markus Ordo both issued duel challenges to Kryze for the title of Mand'alor. Rather than wait for a formal acceptance, however, Chieftain Osis simply assaulted Mand'alor Kryze on the floor of the clan council chamber, shooting her dead with his disruptor pistol and declaring himself the new Mand'alor, much to the outrage of the clans opposed to the First Order. Ordo's allies declared Osis' actions illegal under clan dueling protocols, nominating Markus Ordo as the new Mand'alor instead. In the ensuing confusion, the clans broke out into civil war, as Mandalorian clans tend to do.

The opening shots of the War of Two Mand'alors were fired on the planet Mandalore itself. Clans Kryze, Saxon, Vizsla, and Wren were the hardest-hit by the first few days of the clan war, as most of their holdings were located planetside while their allies had long since moved their thrones to more resource-rich worlds. Clan Kryze, a relatively small clan, had made the capital city Sundari its home. As a result, Kryze was the first to be taken out of action, losing over 90% of its personnel as Clan Osis opened fire on the confused and stunned Kryze forces following the assassination. Saxon's home fortress was destroyed along with most of the clan's on-world assets and personnel as Bralor forces sabotaged nearby sensor stations, allowing Cadera to carpet-bomb the base and its surrounding habs into dust. Vizsla and Wren destroyed one another in a large-scale exchange of long-ranged proton missile strikes as well. Clan Bralor's ancestral territory of Norg Bral was razed by the remnants of Clan Saxon but by this time, most of Clan Bralor had already largely relocated to the planet of Teth some decades prior.

Shortly after Mandalore became a war zone, the clans waged war on one another's holdings elsewhere as well. Clan Ordo's laboratories and farms on Sirethon were razed one week after Kryze's assassination as Ordo and Hazen forces fought for control of the planet. The Kerensky-held world of Odession was also ravaged as Cadera and Kerensky forces clashed in low orbit above the planet, poisoning the surface with the radioactive and chemical waste of fallen shipwrecks. Perhaps the most horrific atrocity, though, was Clan Osis' use of cobalt-salted nuclear weapons taken from an abandoned Imperial-era Saxon weapons cache. Osis, already infamous for its brutality among the clans, crossed a line when it nuked the civilian centers of Parvull IV, a Chorn client world. Even Osis' allies were taken aback by this. In retaliation, Chorn and Ordo forces dropped on the Osis client world of San Secaro, overwhelming the token Osis force stationed on the planet and slaughtering civilians on a scale that rivaled the extermination of Cathar in the 3000s BBY. The Desolation of Parvull IV and the Scouring of San Secaro shocked the other clans and convinced both sides to come to the negotiating table. With the neutral clans as arbitrators, the belligerent factions agreed to declare Mandalorian space a demilitarized zone and continue the clan conflict outside of Mandalorian space for the duration of the First Order War. The Mandalorian DMZ Agreement was ratified by all surviving clans in the third quarter of 34 ABY.

All was not ruin and slaughter in Mandalorian space, however. For one clan in particular, the War of Two Mand'alors was a grand business opportunity. Due to its abnormally large and savvy mercantile caste, Kalasa managed to acquire majority ownership in MandalMotors, Mandal Hypernautics, and a number of highly profitable start-ups including Caskett Droidworks, SarnaTech, and Plisskin Armory. Kalasa also managed to acquire 50% ownership of Concordian Crescent Technologies, which owned a number of arms manufacturers such as Westar. While Kalasa did engage in the military work typical of most Mandalorian clans, its main source of profit came from its many corporate holdings. It sold arms, armor, foodstuffs, computers, and industrial machinery to both of the era's major clan factions, as well as to a number of external parties. Kalasa clanners of all stripes were encouraged to invest in the clan's business holdings, which paid off in considerable dividends, allowing Kalasa warriors to outfit themselves with the shiniest, flashiest, and most expensive gubbins money could buy. Kalasa also invested heavily in media enterprises, selling entertainment and guns in equal amounts as the war progressed. Only Clan Hazen's merchant caste came close to rivaling the profits Kalasa reaped over the course of the war.

* * *

On the battlefield, Mandalorian doctrine had not changed much since the olden times. The biggest, stompiest guy in the mob was the boss. Standard infantry procedure was to slap on the heaviest armor you could find, bring the shootiest and/or choppiest weapons you could afford, slap on a jetpack, and follow the four sacred steps: eat, sleep, conquer, repeat. If First Order decraniated hordes stood on one end of the price spectrum, Mandalorian infantry stood on the complete opposite end. Where the First Order's abominable slave armies were cheap, disposable, and numerous, Mandalorian armies tended to be highly expensive, very hard to kill, and small in number. High-end blasters and explosives, powered armor, jetpacks, proscribed disruptor tech, and exotic melee weapons made up the armory of a Mandalorian infantry unit. And due to the nature of Mandalorian culture, clanner troops had nearly unbreakable morale. Only the wookiees could believably claim to be as durable and unshakable as the Mandalorian infantry. Millennia of warfare, resource depletion, and lack of investment in healthcare, however, prevented the clans from fielding the same galaxy-conquering numbers of the Mandalorian Wars.

Following the Galactic Civil War, Mandalorian arms manufacturers also made considerable advances in military droid technology, allowing 30s ABY Mandalorian ground forces to deploy with semi-sentient war droids much like their ancestors. The first and most common such war droid was the Basilisk IIC, an orbital drop-capable infantry support war droid intended to support a spaceborne vanguard. Loaded solely with energy weapons, the Basilisk IIC could operate without robust supply chains, making it ideal for fighting behind enemy lines. As Kalasa's R&D department expanded, new war droids of varying sizes would join the field. The Manticore war droid, a variant of the Basilisk chassis, operated as a light indirect fire support option to complement the Basilisk's focus on close-quarters brawls, carrying auto-mortars and a probe droid to chip away at enemies from afar. Larger and more heavily armed war droids, such as the MLRS-toting Centaur, the composite beam-laden Beholder, and the massive Titan would follow soon after, giving clan infantry an even heavier punch in combat. With this new generation of war droids, Mandalorian orbital drop doctrine saw a resurgence. The shock and awe of a drop pod disgorging heavily armored commandos behind an enemy's front line was magnified when those commandos were backed up by a lumbering wall of metal and guns. On the defense, the infamous tactic known as Beskar Rain used multiple simultaneous, devastating, defensive deep strikes by spaceborne droids and drop troopers to disrupt enemy invasion forces.

Mandalorian war droids were a potent force on the battlefield, but their expense and the relative lack of development in conventional ground-based armored fighting vehicles prevented Mandalorian space from becoming a major contender in the domain of armored warfare. The clans had yet to replace the ageing Canderous-class tank and the Shadow V combat speeder was inadequate for much more than reconnaissance. The Canderous and Shadow V might have been good during the Galactic Civil War, but by this time, they were woefully obsolete compared to other galactic powers' combat vehicles. Though heavily armored even by today's standards, the Canderous' cooling, targeting, and crew safety systems were inadequate for modern battlefields. The Shadow V was poorly protected, vulnerable to IEDs, and no longer produced in sufficient numbers to replace the ageing GCW-era fleet. Over-reliance on orbital infantry drops, jetpack assaults, and war droid doctrine resulted in a lack of modern, conventional APCs and IFVs. Aside from the expensive Centaur-class war droid and infantry-grade mortars, the clans were lacking in artillery as well.

Overall, a First Order-era Mandalorian ground force was a potent scalpel, capable of surgical decapitation strikes, but it lacked the numbers, cost-effectiveness, and well-rounded arsenal necessary to maintain a world war on its own. Gone were the grand, planet-conquering armies of the Indomitable and the Ultimate. In space, the Mandalorian navies were a mixed bag. Most clans lacked large shipyards, limiting their navies to focusing primarily on cruiser-sized hulls and smaller. Most Mandalorian ships of this era were heavily armored but poorly shielded, owing to MandalMotors' relative lack of shield engineering personnel and unwillingness to outsource to non-Mandalorian shipwrights. Boarding torpedoes and boarding craft were the best in the market, allowing Mandalorian navies to take full advantage of their elite, well-armed marines. Pure carriers were unheard of, with most ships relying on a mix of starfighters and gunnery. The StarAdder fighter, an evolution of the StarViper design, had shielding and acceleration on par with an RZ-2 A-wing along with an adequate multirole armament of three laser cannons and two proton torpedo launchers, but was hindered by inconsistent build quality.


	7. The Need for Speed

THE NEED FOR SPEED

[Excerpts from Karno Moonrise's _Solar Cowboys: Aces of the First Order War_ ]

 _'Did you know there are three kinds of aces? Those who seek strength, those who live for pride, and those who can read the tide of battle. Those are the three. And them? They were true aces.'_ -Unknown

With the general galactic trend towards carrier doctrine, fighter aces once more became the darlings of the tabloid-hungry media. Every belligerent faction was eager to put its aces on a pedestal, showering them with medals and press coverage. To the optimistic viewer, this was the dawn of a new age of heroes, where valiant knights jousted across the skies and stars. To the cynical, this was marketing, an attempt to squeeze as many PR points from a pilot as possible before that pilot met a quick, messy end on the battlefield. Pilots throughout history have never been known for their long lifespans, particularly now in an age of more reliable, more lethal, longer-ranged AA weaponry. To be an ace in this era was to be a hero in the classical sense, an exceptionally talented individual who could easily be the subject of sagas and song. This chapter details a few of the First Order War's many, many aces.

* * *

Cpt. Syal "Dancer" Antilles

Corellia, VFA-118 Rogues

Master of Rogues, Ace of Aces, Eagle of Corellia. Antilles earned all these monikers and more during the First Order War, leading the Rogues from the start of the war, through their defection to Corellia, and during every one of the squadron's major battles, coming out of the conflict as the Corellian Navy's top-scoring ace. Out of the entire war, only Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron could claim to match her record, and even that remains in dispute today. Her victories in Operations Hunting Hawk, Shattered Stars, Distant Thunder, and numerous others have become textbook record, on par with the feats of the Galactic Civil War's aces. In the skies, she was described by enemies and allies alike as a no-nonsense apex predator, hunting down prey with all the swiftness, aggression, and grace of a Corellian razor cat. The T-65XJ, T-65K Eagle, and T-90A Raptor largely owe their deadly war-winning reputations to her and the Rogues.

Antilles notably had a lighthearted love-hate relationship with her maintenance crew, praised for her flying skill but frequently ribbed for pushing her fighters to their absolute limit, coming home multiple times with engines on the verge of burnout and new signs of structural stress on her spaceframes. Perhaps it is no surprise, given her academic record as a protege of Tycho Celchu, an infamous daredevil himself with a love for complex, stress-inducing maneuvers.

* * *

Flight Officers Ben "Buddy" Skywalker and Myri "Jackpot" Antilles

Corellia, VFS-444 Wraiths

Among starfighters, the X-wing. Among men, the Skywalkers. This son of a moisture farmer quickly proved that loss of limb would not slow him down one bit when he made ace during the Battle of Sarapin. He, more than anyone in the Order, embodied the spirit of a chivalrous knight, putting himself in harm's way to shield allies and bait enemies, often at great cost to his own health. By his own admission, he lacked his father's precognitive skills, but he had the endurance and stubbornness of a champion prizefighter to make up for the extra dueling scars. Of course, it certainly didn't hurt that Skywalker also knew how to exploit the durability of the T-65XJ and T-65K to the fullest.

None were more willing to follow Skywalker into hell than Myri Antilles. Antilles often joked that she was the only one crazy enough to play the odds as Skywalker's wingman. Perhaps even crazier was her willingness to be his SIO during the Wraiths' brief affair with the two-seat Z-114A Sabercat. In some twist of cosmic irony, however, she managed to survive each time, often with less damage than other allied starfighters that kept their distance.

An inseparable duo, Skywalker and Antilles quickly established themselves as Wraith Squadron's top dogs in the air. Their most notable action together in the war's first half was during Operation Choker One, where the two shot down four of the infamous Paradiso Squadron. Skywalker and Antilles were infamous for their daring and flair, eagerly diving into canyon runs, tunnel flights, and hotly contested furballs with reckless abandon. They have since been affectionately described by allies as "batshit crazy," "absolutely mad," and "the biggest dumbasses in the Navy."

* * *

Flight Officer Valin "Flugel" Horn

Corellia, VFA-202 Topgunners

Horn was no Luke Skywalker, but he certainly came damn close. He and Ben Skywalker were in constant competition on the Corellian Navy's scoreboard, trading spots in the rankings often enough for fellow pilots to start betting pools on each week's winner. Assigned to the Corellian 202nd Strike Fighter Squadron, Horn saw action in some of the farthest-flung battles of the war, taking part in multiple long-ranged hyperspace strikes on First Order targets in the Outer Rim. In these long-distance battles, Horn would become the first fighter pilot since the Ruusan Reformation to make a BVR kill, using the Krupx Munitions MG-10 torpedo to kill a TIE/FO during the Battle of the Tetra Carnelian Asteroids from the comfort of a Z-114A cockpit 140 kilometers away (albeit after expending five other MG-10s that missed due to failures in the torps' experimental miniature ECCM package).

Horn was also actively involved in test piloting for the Corellian Navy and Incom, flying prototypes like the T-65 ACTIVE and PT-90 for Incom's Corellian subsidiaries when his unit was rotated off the front. He was a frequent sight at Fresia's Fightertown Proving Grounds, tearing up the skies in prototypes and partaking in war games with allied fighter units.

* * *

Maj. Alya "Redshift" Thorne

Corellia, VAW-91 Spyglasses

Thorne is, simply put, an odd one out. Though not an ace herself, a great deal of Corellian fighter pilots hail her and her team as some of the war's best ace-makers. As the leader of a Spaceborne Early Warning and Control (SEW&C) crew, Thorne's job was to provide combat support to nearby fighter squadrons. She and her team marked targets, provided sensor guidance for ordnance launches, countered enemy ECM, guided returning craft home, and advised pilots of new objectives and developments, among a wide array of other tasks. Thorne's team was present for many of the Corellian Navy's key battles, flying in support of Corellia's highest-scoring squadrons. Many pilots have praised her professionalism, quick thinking, and supportive demeanor. Off the battlefield, Thorne was ready to lend a helping hand, too, providing counseling for her fellow spacers and organizing multi-squadron pub crawls on shore leave.

Where the Rogues are considered the iconic X-wing drivers, Thorne and the Spyglasses would quickly become the iconic crewmen of the SEWC-S8 K-wing, a modified version of the venerable GCW-era K-wing hull. Design flaws in the sensor domes of early-war SEWC-S8s limited their data link ranges in adverse atmospheric conditions, often forcing Thorne's crew to get in close to the fireworks to properly support allied fighter squadrons. Luckily for her, the SEWC-S8's system redundancies, powerful shields, and ECM package saw them through the worst of the fighting.

* * *

Kylo Ren

First Order, Knights of Ren

The arch-traitor and the First Order's top ace. Little needs to be said about his gruesome tally or the number of big names on his scoreboard. Kylo Ren's custom-built TIE/vn was a frightening sight on the battlefield, a black bat-like shadow which left entire squadrons dead in its wake. His multiple clashes with Rogue and Wraith Squadrons remain the stuff of legend among pilots today. Kylo Ren was a capricious soul, difficult to predict even under the best circumstances. Only a few things remained consistent throughout his recorded appearances in the war. He had a sadistic streak, playing with his prey before lining them up for the kill shot. He appeared to actively seek out known NJO targets, even dropping more crucial objectives if it meant adding another lightsaber to his scoreboard. He was also notoriously slippery, frequently pulling off maneuvers and acceleration that would have rendered normal men unconscious, and with near-instantaneous reaction times that made him near-impossible to hit.

* * *

MS-16 "Angel"

First Order, VF-100 Paradiso

The first known leader of Paradiso Squadron. 16's poster-girl good looks and charm in front of the holocam were rivaled only by her skill in the skies. As Paradiso Squadron's CO, she led her squadron to numerous victories against the New Republic, most infamously the Razing of Taraloosa, where she defeated the Gatalentan Jedi Raya Jenso in an aerial duel. According to interviewed POWs, she was feared by both her own subordinates and the First Order's enemies for her cruelty and short temper, which were the cause of more than a few war crimes. None, however, doubted her loyalty to the cause. Fanatical and unbreakable, 16 and Paradiso Squadron proved time and again their willingness to sustain severe damage to accomplish their objectives. Under her, Paradiso Squadron was responsible for the destruction of the New Republic's 120th, 305th, and 588th fighter squadrons, once thought to be the cream of the post-demobilization NR Navy. Paradiso Squadron also claimed credit for the alleged assassination of General Greskin Kra'tey, though New Republic and Bothan brass insist that his death was the result of a mere speeder accident. The Angel of Death was a dreaded sight on the battlefield, terrorizing enemy troops and civilians alike until her wings were clipped for the last time in Operation Shattered Stars.

* * *

MS-14 "Gatekeeper"

First Order, VF-101 Purgatorio

The master of the FO's other elite pilot-commando unit. According to interviewed POWs, 14 was a foil to 16, ice-cold where 16 was hot-tempered. Where Paradiso was fanatically feral, Purgatorio was mechanical, obeying orders to the letter and flying in tightly drilled, carefully coordinated textbook formations. Where 16 savored the torture of a single prisoner, 14 would calmly pull the trigger on entire cities, unleashing WMDs on planets like Chetrabba and Sadu-Par with all the emotion of a droid. Under 14, Purgatorio Squadron claimed credit for a series of assassinations and bombings which left the NR-aligned governments of the Tynifarr Cluster decapitated and reeling, easy pickings for the First Order fleet that arrived a week after the last assassination. 14 would continue to lead Purgatorio Squadron until he was cornered and slain by Corellian and Duros forces during Operation Battle-Axe.

* * *

CE-202 "Gills"

First Order, VF-359A Auxiliary

CE-202 was an oddity among the First Order's pilots. A Sullustan, 202 found himself conscripted into the FO's non-human auxiliaries when the colony he called home was taken over by the First Order. Unhappy with his conscription but equally unwilling to face trial in the New Republic, 202 chose to simply soldier on, hoping to keep his head down and his war crimes to a minimum. His past work experience in a starship arms manufacturer led him to tinker with his TIE/FO, tuning his lasers for a much higher rate of fire that could quickly overwhelm shields at the cost of armor-penetrating punch.

Details on 202's service remain scarce. Most of our information comes from an anonymous but credible source from [REDACTED].

* * *

BF-2142 "Hoffnung"

First Order, VF-803

Unlike most FO combat personnel, 2142 volunteered for military service. An NR air raid razed her hometown and caused the deaths of many of her relatives, leading her to sign on with the First Order. Her hunger for vengeance prompted her to pay the New Republic back tenfold. She was a frequent volunteer for terror missions on NR civilian populations and often went out of her way to shoot down retreating or ejected NR pilots.

Details on 2142's service remain scarce. Most of our information comes from an anonymous but credible source from [REDACTED].

* * *

Col. Cassius "Brains" Braun

Imperial Remnant, 1/181st Fighter Squadron

A protege of the retired Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir, Braun was a natural fit for the job of leading the Remnant's famed 181st Fighter Wing. Braun rose to prominence early in his career during the Remnant's successful anti-piracy campaigns in the 20s BBY. As his call sign might indicate, Braun was a studious and careful pilot, a walking counter to the stereotype of the aggressive and cocky TIE driver. Often described as aloof and cold, Braun nevertheless made up for his lack of personal charisma with his tactical acumen, masterminding the offensive that broke the back of the FO-aligned Hessendine League Starfighter Corps during the Second Year Offensive. Braun also took an interest in a wide variety of academic subjects, bringing a small personal library with him on campaigns. He often loaned books to his wingmates and led them on trips to sites of historical interest during shore leave, believing that a well-rounded officer ought to be knowledgeable about more than mere combat.

In the skies, Braun and the rest of the 181st had access to the most advanced TIEs in the Imperial arsenal. The TIE Defender would see a revival of its glory days as the 181st's chosen chariot during the early phases of the war, before being replaced by newer models like the TIE Spectre. Braun, a former TIE Hunter pilot, personally favored the TIE Spectre for its identical handling and near-identical weaponry. During the war, he was a vocal advocate for stealth tech, praising the Spectre's ability to slip through enemy sensor nets to bring his pilots into their preferred environment: on the enemy's flanks and in range of his wing's many, many guns.

* * *

Maj. Resko "Quickdraw" Varek

Imperial Remnant, 2/181st Fighter Squadron

Varek embodies the old breed of the Imperial starfighter corps. A proud old-fashioned aristocrat and a multirole skeptic, Varek was unabashedly critical of Sienar Fleet Systems' moves away from highly specialized starfighters to a smaller, more versatile catalog. Varek cut his teeth in a TIE Interceptor squadron before Braun headhunted him for the 2/181st, perhaps explaining his vocal disdain for newer TIEs. For Varek, guided ordnance was a side show at best, something to support the twin pillars of gunnery and maneuvering, fields in which he excelled, perhaps even to a greater extent than Braun. He was also an accomplished duelist even outside of the cockpit, a quality which served him well when he philandered in the Imperial noble courts, much to the chagrin of his romantic competitors.

* * *

Cpt. Woorrakkur

Kashyyyk, 138th Fighter-Bomber Squadron

"The bomber will always get through" is an old saying, one generally thought to be outdated in an age of rapid advancement in anti-air ordnance. However, for Wookiee-built fighter-bombers, this saying held true for longer than it had any right to. Woorrakkur of the Fighting 138th was known among the Wookiee Starfighter Corps for his seeming inability to die. Assigned to fly a Kachirho Space Works F/B-24 Longbolt, Woorrakkur and his squadron demonstrated the fighter-bomber's surprising effectiveness in dogfights, where its heavy armor, system redundancies, and remote-controlled turret allowed pilots to adopt an aggressive stance against unsuspecting First Order pilots, who often had to dump several seconds of gunfire into Longbolts from poor angles to score kills. Woorrakkur himself often returned to base with his craft full of holes, missing an engine and/or a wing, and with malfunctions across his instrument panel. His luck, however, did not hold out forever. He was killed in action during the Battle of Kana Roa, the last of his unit to fall in combat against the guns of the First Order's Purgatorio Squadron.

* * *

Cpt. Paron Temba

New Republic, 47th NRSFC Fighter Squadron

The New Republic's mass demobilization did not completely deprive it of aces. Paron Temba, leader of the Royal Naboo 47th, was one of the New Republic's best. The 47th's starfighter of choice was the Theed-Nubia N-2000 Hurricane, a cutting-edge design which saw its first flight mere weeks before the war began. Fast, shiny, chrome, and loaded with advanced electronics, the Hurricane quickly gained a reputation as one of the New Republic's premier fighters thanks to the efforts of pilots like Temba. Though designed as a space superiority craft, the Hurricane found itself pressed into a multirole capacity as Temba and the 47th were rushed from war zone to war zone, fighting alongside a wide variety of New Republic forces with different operational demands. To their credit, the 47th made it work, taking on early block TIE/FOs with good results and working with maintenance crews to modify the Hurricane's ordnance bays for bomb and rocket pod compatibility, allowing it to engage ground targets. Temba and the 37th often found themselves working closely with the Gatalentan Jedi, in a continuation of Naboo's historically close ties to some Jedi Order or another. They operated as the honor guard for Jedi Master Sarena Barr during several of her diplomatic missions for the New Republic and flew CAS during the purge of the militant Munan Chohept Onast cult, a First Order front operation in the Outer Rim.


	8. Men of Bastion March to Glory

MEN OF BASTION, MARCH TO GLORY

Before the war, most of the wider galaxy regarded Bescane and other fortress worlds as aberrations. Fortified to the extreme with strict conscription policies, the Empire's fortress worlds were the last line of defense between the Remnant's vulnerable economic core and the perilous frontier worlds. Bescane had long sat at the ugly extreme end of the scale, a planet of sweeping curtain walls, titanic artillery positions, and labyrinthine trench networks under a cluster of Golan defense stations. Only Bastion could boast that it was better protected, and even that claim would have been arguable in the first year of the war as Admiral Belisarius and General Vauban chose Bescane to make their stand against Kurita's seemingly inexorable advance.

Belisarius commanded Bescane's spaceborne defenses from the SSD _Resolute_ , one of the last few _Executor_ -class vessels left in the galaxy. Despite her age, _Resolute_ was still one of the most formidable warships to sail the stars, carrying enough anti-ship firepower and protection to win a slugging match with multiple _Resurgent_ SDs. Supporting _Resolute_ were several dozen ISD-IIIs, ten of the Empire's new _Turbulent_ SDs, and a pair of _Secutor_ -II SDs, along with dozens of smaller escorts.

The _Imperial_ -III was the workhorse of the Imperial Navy, much smaller than her _Resurgent_ counterparts but far cheaper and more numerous. Built on the tried-and-true _Imperial_ -class hull, advances in miniaturization and cooling had allowed the Remnant to replace the II's now-deficient heavy turbo complement in favor of an equal number of Sark Ordnance SH-4 superheavy turbolasers. Equal in size, mass, and volume to the old KDY heavy turbos, the Sark guns were capable of far more powerful output at longer effective range with a negligible reduction in sustained rate of fire. Combined with several decades of advancement in targeting hardware, the SH-4 turned the good old ImpStar into a durable sniper, capable of stripping a _Resurgent_ of its shields and several tonnes of armor from beyond the latter's optimal targeting range with ease. Outdated armor and ageing spaceframes, however, made the ISD-III vulnerable at close range against the FO's newer RSDs. The development of smaller, more efficient cooling systems and heavy ions also freed up hull space for the addition of several hundred CEC Hoplite AA turrets, finally granting the ImpStar much-needed shipboard AA. And though she could never compete with the _Endurance_ or later Corellian and NR CVs, the ISD-III could still carry a respectable TIE wing.

The _Turbulent_ series of SDs, developed between the wars, was planned to be the Remnant's successor to the old ISD. With her smaller size, smaller crew requirements, more advanced electronics, faster-charging shields, and more modern armor alloys, the _Turbulent_ offered a vastly superior package to her older sister. However, only a small number of these pocket SDs had completed production prior to the war. The most common variant, the _Turbulent_ -I, carried a similar armament to the ISD-III. The experimental _Turbulent_ -II was a "sidegrade" rather than an upgrade, replacing the heavy ions with ordnance launch cells to serve as a long-ranged missile and torpedo platform. More durable than the ISD series, the TSDs were capable of surviving prolonged slugging matches with the FO's RSDs, though most Imperial Navy tacticians agreed that TSDs still needed numerical superiority to win a close-range brawl with a single RSD without suffering crippling damage afterward.

The _Secutor_ -II was largely unchanged from the original _Secutor_ hulls, save for the complete removal of the ability to carry ground forces in exchange for vastly increased fighter capacity. As a CV, the _Secutor_ -II was adequate for its hull type, but generally considered outdated, unremarkable, and uncomfortable to live in. Prior to the war, the last two _Secutor_ hulls in the Remnant had been earmarked for retirement, but necessity forced them back into service for one last fight.

Data on sub-SD-sized hulls in the FO remains scarce, save for the ubiquity of reports detailing inconsistent build quality, glaring structural weaknesses, and outright mistakes in the construction of large numbers of cruiser-sized hulls. In contrast to the attention lavished on the FO's RSDs, the FO's escorts and cruisers appear to have been an afterthought compared to other galactic naval powers, winning battles largely through numerical superiority rather than through any sort of qualitative advantage.

The opening hours of the space battle at Bescane appeared promising for the IR. Hyperspace detector buoys and TIE Scout patrols quickly detected the vanguard elements of Kurita's fleet, relaying the FO ships' coordinates to AShM emplacements hidden in the system's asteroid belt. Skipray squadrons from the Bescane Planetary Auxilia harassed the FO's first wave of escorts, destroying nearly a dozen assorted DD-sized hulls with torpedo strikes. Limitanei Army units stationed on the system's sparsely inhabited outer planets maintained good discipline, holding the line just long enough to evacuate noncombatants and critical supplies before retreating in good order, scorching the earth as they retreated. Approximately thirty thousand FO ground personnel were killed attempting to capture booby-trapped fuel refineries, agri-domes, chemical plants, and supply dumps. Battlefleet Bescane reaped a fearsome toll on the FO's in-system advance, but even with all its firepower, it could not hope to stop it completely. Of course, that was never the plan. From the beginning, Belisarius and Vauban had expected Kurita's fleet to reach Bescane thanks to sheer numbers and planned accordingly.

The RSDs _Eradicator_ and _Exterminator_ were the first ships to punch through the Imperial orbital defenses around Bescane, destroying a cluster of defense stations and a flotilla of ships commanded by the ISD _Magnificent_ , albeit at great cost. In her death throes, _Magnificent_ rammed _Eradicator_ and unshackled the safeties on her hypermatter reactor, setting off a reaction that vaporized both vessels. _Exterminator_ was able to disgorge her full landing force, but retaliatory torpedo strikes from _Resolute's_ bomber wings destroyed her mere seconds later. The Remnant, however, was unable to seal this breach as Kurita's fleet poured ship after ship into it, sacrificing dozens of escorts to secure enough orbital space for the FO's troop transports to take up a landing pattern. At the same time, FO cruisers and RSDs sank their teeth into Bescane's orbital defenses, disgorging boarding parties into the defense stations and orbital plates in an attempt to turn the orbital guns on the Empire. Manning these orbital facilities were the men and women of the 605th, 607th, 700th, and 803rd Divisions of the Bescane Auxilia, all void combat specialists which had seen action in the pre-war anti-piracy campaigns. Bescane's Void Auxilia sold their lives dearly, destroying six of the FO's stormtrooper legions along with tens of thousands of decraniated slaves before they were rendered combat-ineffective. Cornered and facing their own annihilation, the Bescane Auxilia's orbital divisions initiated scorched earth protocols, self-destructing the stations and orbital plates to deny their use to the enemy.

On the ground, the FO had managed to land millions of troops focused on the capture of key planetary objectives. Bescane's ground defenders split their forces into northern and southern hemisphere commands. Vauban himself commanded Bescane Planetary Command North from the Castra Bescania mountain redoubt. Three of the FO's landing waves were caught and annihilated in their landing zones by swift and overwhelming bombardment from artillery positions, missile silos, and TIE squadrons before the FO was able to successfully mount a response that could secure a landing zone. The fourth wave carried a shipment of shield generators, which protected the FO's northern landing zones just long enough for the next waves to deploy artillery and AA to counter Vauban's opening salvos. When the shield generators finally failed, the FO had landed enough of its own artillery to commence counter-battery fire and enough AA to deny Imperial air superiority. As Battlefleet Bescane's orbital envelope was pushed back, the FO's RSDs began diverting several of their own TIE squadrons for planetary SEAD operations, including multiple elite FOSF units.

FOSF squadrons did battle with both the Empire's pilots and ground forces. In the air, the FOSF proved to be challenging opponents for even the 181st, badly mauling the 181st's Beta and Gamma Squadrons during the air war over the Castra Bescania. Though the 181st emerged victorious in all of its engagements against FOSF, they paid a heavy price, losing a number of pre-war veterans in the skies of Bescane. Gamma Squadron's survivors would also be killed to a man on the ground when the FOSF's Hades, Naraka, and Yomi squadrons mounted a raid on Rogriss Air Base. On the ground, however, FOSF proved to be inferior in combat to Imperial Commandos. FOSF operators packed relatively light kit and armor to avoid weighing their TIEs down. Their doctrine emphasized stealth and speed. Imperial Commandos' advanced optics and sensors nullified early-war FOSF stealth advantages, however, and FOSF guns had difficulty inflicting significant damage on their shielded, heavily armored Imperial rivals. The FOSF experienced early success in sabotaging Bescane's defenses and slaughtering Auxilia or Limitanei forces, but their efforts were stymied on the ground the moment Vauban responded with his own ImpCom units. The FO's Death Troopers and Knights of Ren _were_ capable of fighting against Imperial Commandos, but very few had been assigned to Kurita's landing force and fewer still were given the opportunity to fight ImpComs. The FO's senior ground officer cadre had decided to keep the Death Troopers leashed as bodyguards rather than allowing them to cut loose on the front lines, leaving ImpCom forces to rampage nearly unchallenged. The Knights of Ren had sent only a token force to this fight and they were assigned to the southern landings in a rear-echelon support role, detailed later on.

Despite the Imperial defenders' best efforts, however, the FO's northern armies were able to land in force and advance along the planet's intercontinental highways towards their objectives: the Castra Bescania, the planetary capital Lumchugger's Hub, and the factory-city Civitas Ferrum. At the Castra Bescania, FO ground forces laid siege to the Imperial mountain fortress, advancing through storms of artillery and blaster fire up the treacherous mountain terrain. Around the Castra Bescania, Imperial troops tactically withdrew back towards the mountain base complex rather than daring to fight the FO out in the open, booby-trapping the positions they abandoned along the way. The Imperial fortress itself was a nigh impregnable target, its terrain teeming with hidden gun emplacements, sally ports, murder holes, and various other traps on top of the countless visible firing positions raining hell down on the FO's troops. The First Order's counter-battery fire was vicious, but where one siege artillery position was caved in, it seemed as if three more would reveal themselves and return fire. Imperial combat engineers had rigged key areas with explosives to cause landslides, burying hordes of FO cannon fodder. FO ground forces attempted to burn their Imperial enemies out of their hiding places with flamer teams and decraniated decoys, but even these resources began to dwindle in the face of the Empire's overwhelmingly powerful defenses. Imperial marksmen and heavy weapon teams had been instructed ahead of time to prioritize First Order flame troopers as well. Eventually, the First Order's assaults on the Castra Bescania slowed, then halted, with the FO withdrawing to entrenched positions set up around the fortress' main gates to prepare for a prolonged siege. Despite this successful initial defense, however, the forces of the Castra Bescania had bled severely to defend their headquarters. Most of the superheavy siege artillery had been destroyed by counter-battery fire and airstrikes. Dozens of kilometers of tunnel had been lost to the enemy, forcing Imperial engineers to hastily collapse much of the base's subterranean network, including multiple tunnels linked to supply caches full of badly needed food, water, and medicine. The FO's control of the roads outside precluded the option of land-bound resupply convoys, while the ongoing aerospace conflict made airborne resupply impossible. Subterranean supply trains connected to distant depots worked around the clock to deliver what they could, but Vauban knew that the mountain redoubt would not hold indefinitely.

The comically named capital of Lumchugger's Hub became an urban combat hellscape as the FO laid siege to the city. With most the civilian populace evacuated, the Imperial defenders were free to cut loose with ordnance, unbound by rules of engagement. Entire buildings were collapsed on top of advancing FO troops, and vast swathes of land were leveled by Imperial artillery fire. Bombing runs and hidden ATGM nests left the highways clogged with the burnt hulks of destroyed FO vehicles. Civilian volunteers, hastily drafted into the planetary Auxilia, led Imperial troops through the city's labyrinthine streets, tunnels, and sewers to flank and ambush the enemy who had invaded their home. The FO attempted to set entire hive spires ablaze to clear out the entrenched Imperials, but First Order flame troops here were targeted with the same extreme priority as the ones besieging the Castra Bescania. Fighting often devolved into brutal room-to-room affairs in the buildings that could not be leveled with ordnance, causing immense casualties on both sides. The Imperials, however, were frustratingly difficult to kill, and reinforcements were en route in the form of the legendary 501st Legion, ten veteran Imperial Army mechanized divisions, and many more fresh divisions of Bescane Auxilia. Unable to gain a long-standing foothold inside Lumchugger's Hub, the FO forces besieging the city were eventually caught in the open around the city limits and routed by the Imperial reinforcements two months after planetfall.

Where the battles for the Castra Bescania and planetary capital were bloody, pyrrhic Imperial victories, the battle for Civitas Ferrum led to a swift and decisive rout of First Order forces. The Iron City was the heart of the planet's manufacturing base and produced large quantities of munitions and materiel. The local Imperial garrison was well-supplied and equipped with factory-new ordnance straight from the source. The Imperial logistics chain, one of the most efficient in the galaxy, was able to flex its muscles here thanks to the city's large number of well-stocked motor pools and ammo dumps. Heavily fortified even before the war, Civitas Ferrum was able to weather the FO's firepower, come out relatively intact, and return the favor every time with an overwhelming response. It was said that the guns of Civitas Ferrum artillerymen never fell silent during the siege, and the damage done to both the FO forces and surrounding landscape show us just how true that statement was. The Iron City's garrison, led by General Claudius Barbatio aboard the walker _Duke of Pharsalion_ , sallied forth from the city gates on a regular basis, hitting the encamped FO forces with punishing volleys of firepower before retreating behind Civitas Ferrum's shielded gates. Barbatio's walker accounted for five engine kills during the siege, two of which were superheavy AT-M6s.

* * *

In the southern reaches of Bescane, terrible things were wrought. The Knights of Ren sent a small cabal of occultists, seemingly independent of the main invasion. None of these knights were seen joining combat operations on the front lines, and Imperial records do not list any knights as KIA or captured. The full extent of their atrocities remains unknown and what little we do know hints at something unspeakable and profane. Imperial recon teams attempted to scout out the Knights' trails and landing zones, but rarely ever returned. Most reports speak of unnatural beasts, lesser cousins of the vile horrors unleashed on Ossus. The dead walked and spoke, and creatures out of mythological nightmare once again terrorized the realms of the living. Tales spread among civilians of devourer and wyrm sithspawn stalking refugee caravans and killing off stragglers.

On the fourth week of the siege, the Knights of Ren unleashed their alchemical horrors upon the Empire's front lines in the southern continent. Hybrid abominations out of nightmare fell upon the Imperial Army's 400th, 322nd, and 789th Infantry Divisions. Skinless, feral beasts with exposed muscle, human skulls, and insectoid limbs tore into terrified Army conscripts. Vornskr-like creatures with barbed probosces in place of mouths prowled behind the First Order's advances, drinking corpses dry and hunting down survivors in coordinated packs. Chrysalis-born mutant rancors, the product of salvaged Dark Empire Project research, charged through breaches in the curtain walls of Tor Ferrum, spearheading a First Order advance that was only beaten back by the timely and costly intervention of the Army's 79th Armored Division and the Stormtrooper Corps' 21st Legion.

Even the very land was not safe from the Knights' dark rituals. The municipality of Cinnabar Bay was irreversibly tainted and a heavily armed cordon was established around its borders. It is said that in the woodlands near the bay, the trees and earth turned to writhing flesh and the water turned a sickly color. When the winds blew through Cinnabar Bay, the breeze carried the odor of decay and filth. Imperial records on post-war Cinnabar Bay are heavily classified, and Imperial authorities remain adamant that the area was the target of a First Order bio-weapon. No publicly available data exists on what lies beyond the cordon, why the Empire continues to withhold orbital/aerial bombardment, or how often Imperial troops venture beyond the wire, if at all.

To their credit, however, Bescane Planetary Command South held firm. In the face of alchemical monstrosities, horrendous casualties, and an appalling suicide rate, the Remnant held the line, thanks in large part to its first-rate armored divisions. BPCS' supreme commander, General Alexios Dragases, remarked, "The enemy dabbles in dark powers. They employ monsters that can tear apart flesh and minds with equal ease. So be it. All the sorcery in the galaxy won't stop Imperial steel." In addition to the 79th Armored, BPCS employed a large number of other veteran tank and walker units, including the famed Hell's Hammers and Dragases' personal unit, the 2nd Armored Division. In a ferocious running battle along the highway Intercontinental 34, the Hammers destroyed a column of FO superheavy walkers, making full use of the nearby forests and hills to snipe at First Order vehicles from concealed positions while the Hammers' recon elements marked targets for heavy artillery and air support. Among the dead was the FO General Albarix, one of the architects of the ground offensive. With Albarix's death, FO morale and command competence experienced a severe drop. The 2nd Armored found themselves at the tip of the spear during the Battle of Redmoor Province, the largest armored battle to occur during the Siege of Bescane. At the height of the battle, the 2nd Armored broke through a weak point in the FO's front line, punching deep into enemy territory and decapitating the enemy headquarters company stationed at the city of Steelhead. Exact figures are impossible to calculate now, but most conservative estimates of the battle's size still feature in excess of four million men, ten thousand armored fighting vehicles, seventy thousand artillery guns, and five thousand starfighters. The fight for Redmoor was the decisive action in the war for Southern Bescane, breaking the back of the FO's southern forces.

* * *

In the space above, the naval battle for Bescane raged on and off on an intermittent basis. For several months, FO and IR forces remained at a stalemate, unable to unseat the other until a company of Imperial Commandos stormed and temporarily captured a hypervelocity gun battery deep behind FO lines on the ground. For one hour, the Commandos held the facility against an overwhelming FO counter-attack, turning the guns on the FO fleet. Kurita's flagship, _Kotetsu_ , was severely damaged in the process and the admiral himself was incapacitated by his injuries. The FO communications ship, _Kaimon_ , was also destroyed during this time. As Kurita's subordinate admirals scrambled to instill order into the panicked fleet, Belisarius made his move.

 _Resolute_ led the charge into the heart of the FO formation, gunning straight for the head of the snake. Taking a page out of the Rebellion's Endor playbook, Belisarius focused his fury on the Star Destroyers carrying the the FO's commanding officers, starting with a ramming attempt that destroyed _Kotetsu_ with all hands. _Resolute_ then turned her wrath on the RSDs _Red Phoenix_ , _Ignis_ , and _Die Iudicii_. _Red Phoenix_ died a violent, painful death as torpedo strikes hit her hangars and ignited her starfighter fuel supplies. The _Phoenix's_ poor-quality Spaarti and droid crews were unable to enact proper damage control measures in time to stop the fire from spreading to its ammunition magazines. Gutted by internal explosions, the _Red Phoenix_ perished along with her commanding officer, Admiral Drassok. Ion blasts from _Resolute_ disabled _Ignis_ , the personal ship of Admiral Roderick Mire, leaving her dead in the void, a sitting target to be picked apart by the rest of the Empire's guns at their leisure. _Die Iudicii_ fought to the bitter end, bloodying _Resolute_ _'s_ nose as she traded blows with the SSD in a close-range gun duel. She managed to destroy two of the SSD's port-side hangars, several dozen AA guns, and fifteen heavy turbolaser batteries before she was put down for good, spelling the end of recently-promoted Admiral Liao.

With comms broken and their command echelon killed in action, the remaining FO vessels became an uncoordinated mess. Some attempted to retreat, suffering massive casualties in the process as the Empire's fastest escorts gave chase. The largest vessels, mainly RSDs and heavy cruisers, stayed and fought, albeit without proper coordination. The RSDs _Epiran_ and _Skywarp_ destroyed the _Secutor_ vessel _Courageous_ along with her escorts, but died moments later to the guns of TSDs _Superb_ , _Vanguard_ , and _Monarch_. _Resolute_ continued to slaughter her way through the FO's heavies, even as she bled from hundreds of external wounds and the desperate, clawing attempts of last-ditch enemy boarding parties. While the battle was one of the bloodiest in the Imperial Navy's history, most of Battlefleet Bescane's capital ships would survive to fight another day, while in the end, Kurita's invasion fleet was all but destroyed. With their orbital lifeline cut off, the FO troops on the ground no longer had a way to continue the fight.

* * *

The siege of Bescane ended in victory for the battered, exhausted Imperial defenders. Invasion Group North surrendered, much to the relief of Castra Bescania's defenders, who were on the brink of starvation and dehydration. Invasion Group South scattered into the countryside, hoping to continue the fight as an insurgency. They would remain a persistent but minor thorn in the side of the Bescane Auxilia, though the last of these holdouts would be cornered and killed near the planet's south pole two years later.

Battlefleet Bescane had lost 35% of its ships to the enemy, with the survivors in varying states of disrepair. Though most, including _Resolute_ , would be sent home for repairs, Belisarius' fleet was still considered combat-effective. Reinforced by assets from Battlefleet Bastion, Belisarius, Vauban, and their advisers began to draft the plans that would become the Second Year Offensive, aimed at relieving Imperial Muunilinst and reconquering Jaemus, Entralla, and the Empire's border territories.

On the home front, the victory at Bescane was cause for celebration. Vauban and Belisarius taken away the momentum of the First Order's invasion, shattered one of the enemy's great fleets, and become the Empire's newest rising stars. It was the first major victory the Remnant had earned since the beginning of the war, and consequently, it became a gigantic morale boost for the fearful Imperial public, particularly the billions of refugees displaced by the fall of the Empire's outermost worlds.


	9. Hold Back The Night

HOLD BACK THE NIGHT

Ruusan is a name that oozes historical significance. It was the stage for the final battle of the New Sith Wars, the namesake of the eponymous Ruusan Reformations, and the site of the holy Valley of the Jedi. This planet was the tomb of many Jedi and Sith Lords, as well as the site where Kyle Katarn struck down the greatest of the old Empire's Inquisitors. During the interbellum, the NJO and GJO maintained a small presence on the planet to study and protect the Valley of the Jedi. This joint operation survived the Betrayal at Ossus, but it certainly did not go unnoticed by the Knights of Ren, who employed a number of ex-Jedi archaeologists and historians. It came as no surprise, then, that Ruusan quickly became embroiled in war once again.

Deysum, Randon, and Uogo'cor were among the many worlds that allied with the First Order following the Hosnian Cataclysm, and these three worlds were now tasked with laying siege to the Ruusan System. With its light defenses and small population, Ruusan was an easy target for the enemies of the NJO. The distress calls from the Jedi archaeological team that did manage to reach Corellian Treaty Command painted a grim picture. Ruusan was doomed to fall. The Knights of Ren had landed a strike team to lead the invasion, and several of the dig site personnel claimed to have sighted Kylo Ren himself. Kashyyyk, the closest allied world, did not have a clear hyperspace route to Ruusan. It would have to punch through the defenses set up at Randon and push down a hyperlane filled with Deysumite and Uogo'corian forces. Corellian and Duros forces would have a clearer but longer path, traveling down the newly opened Corellia-Quellor hyperlane to Gyndine, then through Belasco and New Apsolon. Though Belasco and New Apsolon were officially supposed to remain neutral as members of the New Separatist Alliance, relations with Randon had soured over Randon's military blockade of the nearby hyperlane intersection. Belascan and Apsolonian authorities, eager to spite Randon over their loss of shipping revenues, offered to turn a blind eye to Corellian Treaty fleet movements in their territory. Treaty strategists quickly began to lay the foundation for Operation Sucker Punch.

Phase 1 of the operation prioritized the evacuation of Ruusan's Jedi archaeological team and as many civilians and artifacts as possible, with the secondary objective of holding the Valley of the Jedi until allied reinforcements could arrive. If the secondary objective proved unfeasible, Corellian Treaty Command believed that it would have no choice but to order the Valley of the Jedi stripped and scorched to deny its resources to the enemy, despite the NJO's protests. For this, the Corellians and Duros hastily assembled Task Force Pilgrim, a fleet composed of CVBG-6 under the carrier _Endeavor_ , the Duros battleship _Ranadaast_ , along with a flotilla of bulk freighters and Q-ships. The ground forces consisted of a brigade-sized element of Corellian Marines, a battalion of Duros marines, a fire team of Wraiths, and five Jedi Knights: Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, Rosh Penin, Godfrey III of Montressonne, and Baldwin of Hyades. The remaining members of Wraith Squadron would remain on the home front for the time being to assist in raising more commando units. The Kashyyyk 1st Fleet was already in the process of besieging Randon, and the New Republic had grudgingly pledged to send its 35th Fleet to assist in holding the Valley. The Gatalentan Jedi believed that Ruusan had to be held at all costs, lest the FO stake a claim to the Force Nexus and artifacts in the Valley of the Jedi.

Phase 2 was intended to be a planetary landing by Kashyyyk reinforcements, either to shore up the survivors of Task Force Pilgrim or to reconquer Ruusan in the event that Pilgrim was forced to retreat. Randon was considered a soft target by Corellian Treaty forces. Its military had grown lax during the interbellum, selling officer slots to corporate scions with fat pockets and little experience or motivation. If all went according to plan, the Wookiee Navy would power through Randon's defenses within a week of Pilgrim's planetfall and flank the FO vassal fleet besieging Ruusan.

The exact details surrounding the Battle of Ruusan remain in contention to this day. Task Force Pilgrim had little space or time for babysitting journalists and historians, and what little footage survived the battle remains highly classified. The scant bits that _are_ publicly accessible remain buried in the archives of owners who remain reluctant to discuss the horrors that took place. Today, the only detailed account comes from the _Tome of Ruusan_ , penned by the eccentric Duros savant, Pelemic Teru, who traveled to the ruined world years after the war to speak to the native Bouncer species. Teru's account, though highly sensationalized, remains perhaps the most comprehensive text on the battle, though it is advised to take the following excerpts with a grain of salt:

* * *

EXTRACTS FROM _THE TOME OF RUUSAN_ , ROUGH TRANSLATION FROM ARCHAIC DURESE

Yet again, the Valley was drowned in blood and shadow as blackened Knights descended from the hungry stars. The Knight of Ages, absent and embattled in the heavens, sent disciples in his stead to stand against the screaming dark. Alien hordes assembled in the skies and tore the night asunder even as they sent great hosts to battle across the land.

First came the Dark Ones and their pale-armored horde. Forbidden science and maddening combat stims flowed through the overburdened cardiovascular systems of the resurrected empire's traitor lords. Ill-fitting costumes, clumsy steps, the pawing and fumbling eagerness of a child stumbling upon a weapon of mass destruction. Dearest Grandfather would be appalled. The Twisted, the Lovers, the Saint of Worms, and their Chieftain stained the earth with their tread, the self-proclaimed successors to a once-grand legacy.

Hissing and chittering and skittering, the Twisted was no longer a person, but an abhorrent thing warped by foul alchemy. It was a beast of gnarled horns, blackened teeth, and pestilent tread. The stellar darkness in its eyes wailed the song of fetid oceans. In one hand, it held a book, and in the other, a flask of ichor. It was the first of its kind, doctor and patient, a test subject self-wrought and autovivisected into a degenerate mockery of its predecessors' grand and terrible works. It experimented. It sculpted. It spilled its ichor in a great lake by the Valley to spawn unspeakable children. Great throngs of once-men and un-men groveled in its wake and sought to prey upon the living. Compared to the ancient empires, the Twisted was an overeager student fumbling at intestines and genomes, but malpractice is no less agonizing when it is done clumsily.

Then came the Lovers. Unholy matrimony is a cliche, but a fitting one. Their love for each other is rivaled only by their love for the master. Sycophants driven to the vilest passions, they arrived with a capering baggage train of deranged alchemical spawn. It is said that the Twisted's alchemy granted them eyes, so that they need never avert their gazes from one another or from the master ever again. Then the Twisted granted them mouths, so that they might serenade each other forever. Linked in the Force, 'til death do us part.

Then the Saint of Worms. Vermissiah, carrion priest, arch-proselytizer of the Dark Ones. Where the Twisted was warped by foul science, the Saint was soul-tainted. Lavish robes and porcelain masks did little to hide the buzzing stench in the Force. Its words were as tongues and teeth and fingers, squirming and flicking at the mind, spouting the words of a faith that only superficially aped the dogma of its betters.

"KNEEL. BEAR WITNESS. BASK IN OUR GIFT."

It spoke to the trees and the trees withered. It spoke to the earth and the earth soured. It spoke to men and they became ill. Dark greetings. Come one, come all to the ghoulish feast.

And last of all, bear witness to the chieftain of the dark Knights. The man in black, who called himself Kylo Ren. No alchemical crutch, no vermin-gnawed soul, no bargain-bin monster holo costumes. Just simple flesh and ambition and the sword. Almost like Grandfather Dearest. Fear most the snake that need not shed its skin, for he hews closest to the glories of old.

[...]

Perish the Thought. Thought is the enemy of power. Once, there existed the means to kill thought, now left in the deep and painful memories of the world. The Dark Ones crept on soil fertilized with painful reminiscence. They sought a stardust memory to fashion a new weapon. An old weapon. A mind-killer. Ruusan has a long memory. Most of the galaxy forgot, but Ruusan did not. The Dark Ones did not.

[...]

Then came the Corellians and their comrades. Camouflage and guns and missiles and steel: modern weapons for a new war and an old war, a war that has raged since the dawn of the old Je'daii but which began with that star-killing shot in the dark. Light and dark. Brown robes and black cloaks. Swords and souls, eternally retold on the stage of history. Now, as the new stage is set, cue marching songs and pipes and gunfire. Was their courage born of ignorance or was it the manufactured bravado of tribesmen who knew they stood at firelight's edge? Could the thunder of artillery banish the fearsome sights that hungered in the stars?

At the head of that host were the last Knights of a cloven Order, modern crusaders on steeds of roaring engines and steel wings. Honor is all. Chivalry is all. Such were their words, these dutiful children whose futures were sold away by the greed and complacency of their ancestors.

[...]

Ruusan's militia, poorly armed and equipped, had little to stand in the way of an invasion fleet. The archaic monitors that protected the edge of Ruusan's system were cast aside like pebbles in a storm. Those Knights who toiled in the valley were scholars, not warriors, and they had little more to offer. When Corellia and Duro arrived, the land was nearly conquered, its tiny settlements ruined and burnt. The invaders camped their main strength at the sight of the old Brotherhood's doom, where they began to dig for the lost secrets of the world. Those Ruusanians who could fight drew the enemy into the wilderness to fight tooth and nail for their homes, while those who could not fled along the highways and waterways to the ancient Valley and its surrounding mountains. Bloated evacuation ships hovered over the last free mountain redoubts, ready to take civilians into their warm bosoms.

The sky split open, clouds sliced by the supersonic passage of durasteel eagles and bats. The air was filled with rays of killing light and bolts of wrath as modern-day knights jousted above, and the heavens bled fire and smoke. The main body of the Crusader Host met the Dark Ones in the mountains around the Valley underneath the spectacle of orbital titanomachia. Screaming engines and searing tempests split the clouds open. Fertile is the valley watered by blood. Shock and awe broke the inexperienced militiamen of Deysum, who fled into the hungry wilderness. When the Deysumites failed, the Dark Ones sent their skull-severed helots. Those, too, perished, but they served their purpose. Always the same purpose: to terrify, to eat flesh and munitions, to soften the prey before the killing blow. Enter the Dark Ones and their chosen servants. Thrice they assaulted the Corellians and Duros in the Valley and thrice they were repelled on the first day. With enough muzzle flash, even the most terrifying nights may be banished, however briefly.

[...]

...[A] blood-soaked holding action along the last open highways began on the third day after the previous day's initial gains. Gunfire, artillery, and thunderous airstrikes peppered the roads mere kilometers behind the tail end of the civilian rabble. But even the loudest gunfire could not completely drown the baying of beasts in the distance. The shield-brothers, Godfrey and Baldwin, stood shoulder to shoulder against the Lovers' horde. Many times did they clash along Ruusan's roads and fields amid the deafening clash of tanks and walkers. Outnumbered, the Corellians and Duros were slowly pushed back, meter by blood-soaked meter as the two Dark Ones rallied their endless ranks. A horizontal rain of luminescent wrath streaked across the lands, man and machine both withering under the punishing storm. With these vast killing ranges, neither army would lock blades. Killing bolts would strike men dead from beyond sight and litter the ground with burning machine hulks. But despite their vicious mauling, the forces of Corellia and Duro let out a ragged cheer at the close of the fifth day, when the shield-brothers struck the Bride from her palanquin with an anti-materiel rifle, forcing the Lovers to quit the field as the gap between the Dark Ones and the civilian rabble widened.

[...]

The Dead Forest. The Feast of Flies. The endless, slavering drone of insects' wings. When the people of Ruusan fled into the wilderness, the dark preacher followed, eager for new converts. For three days after planetfall, the forests and hills would ring with the sounds of scattered battles. After the fourth, the wilds were silent. Fearful and concerned, the Duros assembled an expedition to brave the storm around the Valley and search the wilderness beyond for signs of the missing Ruusanians. Accompanying them was the Knight they called Penin. Headstrong, irascible, arrogant, Penin sallied forth in the belief that he could bring them back and prove his worth. By the fifth day, the expedition had broken free of the Valley siege, bloodied but intact. By the sixth, they had marched into the unsettled unknown and made camp. By the seventh, they sent out patrols into that lonely wilderness. None returned. On the eighth, the camp was besieged by a crawling congregation. Mandibles and chitin, teeth and blood-sucking probosces, men turned into hives, droning sycophants chanting praise to dark forces and warped with the aid of alchemy. Too many. Too many. Retreat was the only hope of survival. Fire rained from the heavens to shield the expedition's flight, but even wrath of such magnitude failed to catch the preacher and the alchemist. In years after, Ruusan would be repopulated and rebuilt, but even today, there lies a forest beyond the Valley where the birds do not sing and the leaves do not rustle. It is a place of silence, but sometimes, one still hears the buzzing on the wind.

[...]

In the heart of the Valley stood Korr of the Many Faces, fighting alongside the main body of the Corellian and Duros host. All along the watchtowers, Korr kept a view. Up and down the line, the Many-Faced one traveled, rousing the fire in men's hearts and lending a strong sword arm at the barricades and trenches. Even as ammunition depleted, as barrels overheated, and magazines clacked empty, Korr stood at the front, holding the buckling line together with the Corellian and Duros generals by sheer force of will. When blasters failed, men fell back on bloody knuckles, broken bayonets, and dented buttstocks. Not one step back. The Battle of Black Ridge would be a finest hour and a darkest hour stretched into days as reinforcements faced delay after delay. On the seventh day, Korr engaged the general others called the Butcher of Karmotan at the foot of the Ashen Monument. The Butcher and his black-armored retinue fell that day, their heads added to Korr's fearsome tally.

[...]

There are places on Ruusan, old places, where the absence of the sun's touch has become more than a mundane phenomenon. They are places where the bones of the world shudder with the weight of grand tragedies. The darkness here was beyond the reach of even the Knight of Ages, the spirits beckoning and cloying and insidious. "Do not run," they whisper. "Rest your head in our home. Drink deep of our waters." They gather and scheme beyond the walls of the underworld's one safe haven: the Tomb of the Lords. It is a lonely outpost of warmth and normalcy amid the strange darkness, besieged spiritually, now besieged physically. On the final day, at the gates of the subterranean reliquary, the one called Skywalker stood guard with two-score Corellians in the face of the clawing darkness. The Dark Ones had touched the waters in these depths and used their alchemy to turn the things beneath into their servants. Beasts all over the shop, simple sleepers mutated into dripping, slopping slaves held back by a wall of gunfire.

Along the Corellian line, a mighty roar: "They shall not pass!"

As the armies closed, the depths of the world echoed with the clash of swords. Sorrow, confusion, the rage of a brotherood betrayed. O kinsman, where art thou? Two foolish boys who would have stood back-to-back against the galaxy, now two snakes dueling on the edge of the proverbial crater. Kylo Ren sought to tempt his former comrade with promises of glory and power, of a return to their friendship of old, but Skywalker's grudge was one that would drive even a Jedi to blackest rage. One cannot simply say goodbye to yesterday, but neither can one turn back the clock. They brawled and grappled in the depths, fast-tracked by cruel warfare into a place that ought to have been reserved for true Knights.

In these chthonic reaches, where the shadows grew heavy and old, even the brightest flames may gutter and fail. For all his skill, for all the wounds he dealt, Skywalker was outmatched and overpowered. The Betrayer struck the blade from his hands, sundered the hilt, and hurled him into Hoth's reliquary. Out of desperate reflex, Skywalker took up one of the ancient weapons. What he held in his hands, it was much too big to be called a sword. Massive and incandescent, indeed, it was like a caged sun. Brutish and bright, it was a weapon built for an age of terrible darkness. It was named Galatine, the Sword of Noon, the Zenith Blade, first among equals for the glorious solar armaments that rested in Hoth's Tomb. It was a weapon built to split a dragon. Its wielder, however, had a long way to go before he could become worthy of its might.

Clumsy swings, shoddy footwork, missed opening after missed opening. This was not their fated duel. This was not the climactic clash between two men of destiny. As the Corellians retreated to their defenses in the tomb, the two knights continued their battle under the unfeeling gaze of skeletal Lords and desiccated, forgotten saints. Who were these children who dared upset the sanctity of their resting place? What right did they have to bring their grudges to this house of silence? It is said by the Bouncers of Ruusan that one bright spirit yet remained after the Knight of Ages' victory: Hoth, Lord of Lords, now the last keeper of the honored graves. Subtly, invisibly, he granted what guidance he could to the young Skywalker. But even the favor of the ancients could not seal a victory without a price. In dejarik and in war, victory demands sacrifice. Spend the kintan to win the board. Spend the Lord, slay the Brotherhood. In a final gamble, Skywalker lunged forth, taking the traitor's blade into his shield arm and his side to cut deep into Kylo Ren. But alas, Skywalker could not end him rightly, for the young Knight was then brought low by his own ghastly wounds. As Kylo Ren's retinue bundled their lord to safety, they took with them what precious artifacts they could, looting graves and desecrating shrines as they passed.

[...]

On and on the battle raged. The Corellians and Duros refused to break. Even as the Crusader Host's guns emptied and their blades blunted, they remained stubbornly entrenched in the mountains and Valley, sallying forth from time to time to protect the civilian mobs chanced the long run along the planet's ruined highways until the ninth day, when their fuel reserves ran low. From the enemy dead, they looted what supplies they could and turned the enemy's weapons against them. Their courage was only bolstered further when burning hulks bearing the enemy's colors fell from the heavens. Even as so much of the galaxy fell into darkness, their persistence on Ruusan showed that the enemy _could_ be halted in its tracks. The foe _could_ be bloodied. But courage alone is not enough to hold out indefinitely, not with empty power cells and overheated gun barrels. The tanks, reduced to stationary hull-down positions to conserve fuel, could not be saved. Though they reaped a bloody toll among the enemy's machines, the weight of the invaders' wrath was overwhelming. Some escaped to friendly lines, tearfully abandoning their beloved but exhausted machines. Others chose to stay, burning out their generators and emptying their sidearms to buy their comrades every precious second they could. But at last, on the eleventh day, salvation arrived. The stalemate in the void broke when the first Wookiee vessels clawed their way out of hyperspace. Scarred, scorched, but not beaten, the belated Kashyyyk Fleet tore into the flank of the enemy's formation. At the sight of these reinforcements, the invasion fleet's shipmaster recalled his forces and made haste for the stars, prudently cutting his losses with all due haste rather than fighting a doomed last stand.

Ruusan bled, but most of its people would live to see their home once again when the fighting was done. As the Kashyyyk fleet descended to bring succor to the Crusader Host, the Dark Ones returned to the endless night, wounded but jubilant, for the dark Knights' plunder included two great treasures: the holy sword Isilme, which was Galatine's twin, and the schematics to produce the fearsome Mind-Killer. The Corellian and Duros host had been badly mauled, and most would return home to lick their wounds. The sole exception was the great carrier, Corellia's own Silver Specter, a legend in her own right. But hers is a tale for another time.


	10. We Didn't Start The Fire

WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE

When it comes periods of significant interstellar upheaval, it is important to keep an eye on the bigger galactic picture instead of focusing entirely on the major battles of the era's main players. The 30s ABY was a time marked by turmoil of all kinds, from cultural to military to political. The following are a series of excerpts from select texts to offer the reader a small holo-capture of the decade outside the Corelllian and Imperial trenches:

* * *

GALACTICA NETWORK PRESS

"NO MORE!" CHANTS CHANDRILA

This morning, yet more angry Chandrilan citizens took to the streets as Hanna City's protests reached their second day. The austerity policies enacted by the Chandrilan government in response to the wartime economy and refugee situation has proven highly unpopular among the planet's labor unions and youth population, sparking riots and civil unrest across the planet. As refugees flood towards the safety of the Core in the wake of the First Order's advance, Chandrila finds itself struggling more and more to accommodate the influx. Even now, the sky hangs heavy with the silhouettes of overburdened freighters and passenger liners seeking landing clearance at the Hanna City Spaceport, whose halls continue to fill with yet more and more people.

[...]

"We cannot supply enough clean water for them all," said an anonymous manager at the Hanna City Water Supply center. "The system cannot deal with so much demand at once, and our maintenance crews are stretched thin."

[...]

"We have nothing left!" yelled a government worker at a food line set up in Alliance Plaza, futilely gesturing at the mobs forming around his queue. This is not the first time he has been forced to close up for lack of supply following the loss of the New Republic's agri-worlds in the galactic north. "We cannot serve any more until the next resupply comes in! I do not know!"

[...]

At Hanna City University, students protest against Chandrila's latest round of military drafts and the controversial Emergency Measures Act. While these protests have remained peaceful so far, exchanges between students and Hanna City Police have become increasingly heated. Chandrila's Emergency Measures Act, signed into law yesterday, expands the scope of draft eligibility to students in post-secondary education, a move which has proven extremely unpopular with the planet's youth.

* * *

THE DAILY COMET

DEADLY DISEASE ON CORUSCANT!

...Coruscant authorities continue to struggle with this week's outbreak of Ardoxian Flu. Ardoxian Flu is a disease which primarily affects nonhuman species but is especially hazardous to Wookiees and Trandoshans...carried in corpses...transmissible via contact with skin, bodily fluids...expected 75% fatality rate for those who do not seek immediate medical treatment upon contact with an infectious source. All citizens are advised to continue avoiding prolonged unnecessary contact with dead bodies, Orbital Plate Alpha, and levels 1208-1390 in Galactic City until further notice.

[...]

[I]nsufficient space at Galactic City's medical care facilities. "We are operating well beyond maximum safe capacity," said Dr. Rax Loum of Coruscant Prime Medical Center. "Even working around the clock, we do not have enough staff to handle the number of patients."

[...]

As the hub of New Republic maritime trade, Coruscant's ports handle shipments of all kinds, ranging from foodstuffs to firearms and now corpses. As per to New Republic Navy standard practice, troops who have fallen in the line of duty are shipped back to Coruscant for processing and sorting before they are sorted onto container ships bound for their homeworlds and families...relatively low pre-war fatality rates...mounting casualties along the northern border worlds...[M]assive influx of refugee ships and damaged Navy vessels already competing for dock space with regular day-to-day commercial traffic on top of that. Coruscant Spacedock is, simply put, dangerously overburdened.

* * *

THE EMERALD HERALD

OF FARMS AND FESTIVALS

Traffic in Denendre Valley reached record highs as hundreds of thousands of young fans flocked to the farming town of Soskell to attend the three-day Soskell Rock Festival. Despite Denendre County's declaration of a state of emergency, Soskell Festival attendees have remained unexpectedly peaceful and cooperative with local authorities.

"This festival is all about peace and understanding," said an anonymous attendee. "If we started a ruckus, we'd be undermining the whole point of the event."

Despite their relative docility, the festival-goers have been met with a mixed response from Soskell's inhabitants. Some, like the Soskell Rotary Club, have marched out in protest of the festival, citing concerns over noise, sanitation, illegal drug use, and littering. Many local businesses, however, have expressed an appreciation of the sudden spike in business as the young outsiders flocked to the town's restaurants, hotels, and stores. Soskell's local music enthusiasts have also expressed support for the event, excited about coming musical talent like Ranna Alder, The Perth Sode Band, Drayson Starship, and Joi Belus.

* * *

THE INTERSTELLAR GAZETTE

TREASON AT RENDILI

Earlier today, five directors and ten corporate officers of the Rendili Shipyards Conglomerate were deemed guilty of treason and espionage by the New Republic Supreme Court and sentenced to life imprisonment. These directors and officers held secret meetings and correspondences with First Order agents, which were leaked to New Republic authorities by an anonymous whistleblower within the company. In these secret talks, RSC's guilty directors and officers discussed the prospect of selling blueprints and starship components to the First Order, as well as the possibility of sabotaging the Rendili's defenses and industry in exchange for hefty payments and favorable treatment by First Order leadership. Rendili Shipyards Conglomerate, the holding company in charge of Rendili StarDrive, Rendili Hyperworks, and Rendili/Vanjervalis Drive Yards, is one of the New Republic's leading shipbuilders, responsible for the production of many of the NR Navy's warships, including the _Republic_ -class Star Destroyer and the Assault Frigate Mk IV. Employees and officers alike have resigned from RSC in protest, and public outrage was strong enough to require the intervention of New Republic Navy MPs, who assisted Coruscant PD officers in escorting the defendants to and from the Galactic City Legis Spire. Only time will tell what sort of effect this will have on RSC's stock.

* * *

IMPERIAL DECREE 35 ABY - 4.01335

By decree of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, Rationing Plan 3-Epsilon shall be enacted for the following Imperial worlds, effective five (5) Bastion Standard Days from this announcement...

By decree of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, Rationing Plan 4-Epsilon shall be enacted for the following Imperial worlds, effective five (5) Bastion Standard Days from this announcement...

By decree of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, Rationing Plan 2-Tau shall be re-enacted for the following Imperial worlds, effective five (5) Bastion Standard Days from this announcement...

All Rationing Plans are to remain active indefinitely until expressly concluded by Imperial Decree. Price control instructions, planetary tax code modifications, and ration voucher allocation instructions have been distributed by encrypted holo-mail to the governors of all covered Imperial worlds. Deviation from these instructions without express authorization from the Imperial Agricultural Bureau is punishable as per Imperial Legal Code section 8033(a). Corporate and individual civilian attempts to circumvent rationing rules without express authorization from the Imperial Agricultural Bureau are punishable as per Imperial Legal Code section 8033(b)-(c). Your sacrifice today ensures that our brave troops have the supplies they need to continue the fight.

By decree of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, under the guidelines established by the Writ of Conscription, the following Imperial worlds are commanded to raise an additional ten (10) divisions of Imperial Army troops by any means necessary...

Failure of government officials to comply with this conscription order in timely fashion shall be punishable as per Imperial Legal Code section 10111(a)(1). Failure of conscripted citizens to report for duty at their local recruiting center shall be punishable as per Imperial Legal Code section 10112.

The Empire survives. The Empire adapts. The Empire endures.

* * *

HYTHERON-ZUR NEWS

DOMINOS IN THE OUTER RIM

As the First Order and New Republic battle across the galaxy, planetary regimes rise and fall in the blink of an eye as the tides of war shift. Never the most stable region of galactic space, the Rim's fragmented and scattered fiefdoms have been turned into yet more pieces in the great galactic game. On Gamorr, a counter-revolutionary invasion with rumored NR backing was stopped in its tracks by the FO-sympathetic Gamorrean Revolutionary Government, which had toppled the previous NR-aligned planetary leadership in the days following the Hosnian Cataclysm. The Seoul System was split in two last month by civil war between the FO-backed People's Seoularian Army and Seoularian Republic Army supported by NR and Corellian Treaty interests. Dozens of other Outer Rim polities have risen, fallen, and split since the outbreak of galactic hostilities. This week alone saw twelve more worlds added to the count, with the bloodiest fighting on Tairateb, Sulaykur, Yurantha, and Rho Noa.

[...]

...entire continent wiped clean of life as the FO-aligned Sons of Sidralka terrorist group destabilized the orbit of Yurantha's Qurum-4 colony, causing the space station to plummet to the planet's surface.

[...]

The Noa System's hard-fought independence from FO control proved to be short-lived as stormtrooper legions rained onto Rho Noa to overthrow the system's recently reinstated monarchic dynasty. Fierce local resistance and heavy NR financial backing only seems to have emboldened the FO forces fighting for control of the planet. Reports of numerous atrocities have filtered out of the Noa System and into the holonet over the past few weeks, though our team has had difficulty verifying the authenticity of these claims. Claims range from village massacres to the gassing of space colonies to the orbital bombardment of metropolitan areas.


	11. Riders in the Skies

RIDERS IN THE SKIES

Just like every other war before it, the FO War greatly accelerated the galactic arms race, forcing shipwrights to continuously upgrade existing spaceframes and develop new ones to keep up with the march of wartime technological development. Wartime scientific breakthroughs led to the development of a wide variety of starfighter-compatible tech. Koensayr Manufacturing became the galaxy's leading starfighter armor manufacturer after its R&D team created the now-widespread Zeta Titanium alloy, which was far lighter and more durable than prewar titanium alloys. Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps experienced a similarly profitable breakthrough when its R&D division successfully produced the first XL heatsinks, which offered vastly superior heat management to prewar heatsinks in exchange for a slight increase in individual unit size. BVR combat, as stated in a previous chapter, would make a comeback for the first time since the Ruusan Reformation era. The revolutionary Kyber Circuit, Forcecom, and Force Frame would be invented and see their first combat usage during the second half of the war in the hands of Force-sensitive combatants. Across the galaxy, shipwrights scrambled to integrate as much new technology into their designs as possible. This chapter deals with a few of the war's noteworthy designs, barring craft like the T-70 and TIE/FO, which have already been covered exhaustively by other galactic media:

* * *

T-65K EAGLE

An evolution of the classic GCW design, the Eagle represents the peak of the T-65 spaceframe's performance. It was designed with a simple objective: Make an X-wing, and make it the most X-wing possible. Incom's 4K4 engines, the last to be developed for the T-65 line, allowed the Eagle to achieve a maximum unshielded atmospheric speed of Mach 2.5 at high altitudes. 3 general-purpose ordnance launchers (9 total torpedoes or 12 total concussion missiles) and 4 Taim & Bak RX8 heavy laser cannons granted it enough punch to threaten most early-war starfighters and cruiser-sized warships. Helmet-mounted displays, Fabritech's ECM-209 system, Novaldex's powerful O7 reactor, and Chempat's "Pavise" shield generator model rounded out the package to make the T-65K a solid mainline choice for the Corellian Navy and other non-NR fleets (the NR preferred to rely on the T-70 and T-85 series of X-wings). The T-70 and T-85 were compatible with a wider variety of astromechs, the T-70 possessed slightly superior low-altitude maneuverability, and the T-85 was compatible with more advanced avionics and hyperdrives, but neither offered the cost-effectiveness of the Eagle, whose T-65 price tag, relatively hassle-free maintenance, and still fantastic performance made it beloved across the Corellian Treaty signatories.

* * *

BTL-S8 BLOODHOUND

What the Eagle was to the T-65, the Bloodhound was to the BTL series of Y-wings. Unlike the New Republic's BTA-NR2 model, the BTL-S8 employed by the Corellian Treaty was built on the classic GCW-era Y-wing spaceframe used for the BTL-A4, BTL-S3, and BTL-S7 to save on costs. Koensayr's new R300 engines gave the S8 a maximum unshielded atmospheric speed of Mach 2.0 at high altitudes. While the S8 did perform respectably in a straight line, pilots often criticized the S8's mediocre agility. The addition of a third Aratech FlexTube ordnance launcher gave it a total capacity of 15 torpedoes or 30 proton bombs. Koensayr's decision to swap the old canopy out for a new bubble canopy was met with much applause from veteran Y-wing jockeys who preferred greater visibility over the ultimately superficial armor of the original model. In terms of guns, the S8 carried a pair of RX8s in the nose as standard and had a modular turret mounting that could fit a variety of proprietary and aftermarket weaponry. ArMek's twin-linked SW-5 ion cannon was the most popular choice for the navies that fielded the S8, though some Duros and Givin squadrons favored the use of T&B's CX1 composite beam laser instead. Unlike most Y-wing models, the S8 was a one-pilot affair, with its turret slaved to droid control. In the second half of the war, the BTL-S8 also became the first mass-produced starfighter to carry Zeta Titanium alloy armor, albeit in highly limited numbers due to cost and time concerns. In terms of under-the-hood hardware, the S8 carried many of the same systems as the T-65K, much to the relief of Corellian Treaty procurement officers and bean counters. The turret mount could also accommodate a Longprobe sensor package in place of a weapon, greatly increasing the craft's sensor and data link range. While useful for long-distance recon flights, Longprobe S8s were also often used as impromptu electronic support craft or target spotters by Corellian Treaty carrier wings.

* * *

T-90 RAPTOR

Undetectable, smooth, and sleek, the Raptor series was designed to control the skies and give the fans an air show along the way. Advances in miniaturization during the war's first half allowed the Raptor to mount a staggering 6 micro-torpedo/micro-missile launchers in its internal ordnance bay to back up its already fearsome RX8 HLCs. While Incom initially proposed the Raptor to the New Republic as a T-85 replacement, the NR Navy declined the design, citing budgetary concerns. Instead, it found its home in the hands of Corellian Treaty Navies, who purchased the starfighter in limited numbers to supplement rather than replace pre-Raptor staples like the T-65K. While its reported maximum atmospheric speed is slightly lower than the T-65K's at about Mach 2.25 unshielded, the Raptor's 4S4 engines offer vastly superior maneuverability, granting the Raptor agility on par with TIEs and A-wings while also being difficult to detect on thermals. Rather than using exceedingly rare Stygium crystals, the Raptor's stealth capabilities relied on sensor-resistant coating and one of the most powerful ECM packages in the galaxy, the Fabritech ECM-210. It also carried a miniaturized Longprobe package, allowing it to spot targets for allies and snipe enemies from extreme range without ever having to reveal itself on sensors. All this power, however, came at the cost of an allegedly astronomical (and classified) price tag and steep maintenance costs due to its finicky stealth coating.

* * *

TIE/dm DOMINUS

The TIE Dominus was the next step up from the old TIE/fo. Originally assigned to elite fighter units, the TIE/dm would eventually filter into the hands of the common rank and file as production lines shifted away from the obsolete TIE/fo in the second year of the war. It featured an oversized twin-ion engine, multiple vernier thrusters, and much heavier armor than the TIE/fo, giving it a very bulky silhouette but extremely high maneuverability. It carried as standard a pair of L.s-10 laser cannons, which boasted a higher fire rate than the previous L.s-9.6 and greater precision but at the cost of greater heat buildup per shot. Its wing panels could also be outfitted with external ordnance racks to carry a disposable torpedo tubes or rocket pods. Because of its size, fewer TIE/dms could be packed into a carrier than TIE/fos. Most publicly available FO records indicate that for every 3 TIE/fos' worth of space, only 2 TIE/dms could be safely loaded.

* * *

TIE/fc FENCER

An upgrade to the ageing TIE Defender, the Fencer quickly became the iconic "grunt" TIE of the Remnant by the mid-war period. Its P-sz10 twin-ions granted it a nearly unmatched top unshielded atmospheric speed of Mach 3, making it one of the fastest rides in the galaxy, rivaled only by late-war superfighters like the TIE Spectre and TIE Strigon. A series of maneuvering thrusters on the Fencer's wing panels gave it superb agility as well. For gunnery, it carried 4 of Sienar's H-s9.0 heavy laser cannons, though it ditched the Defender's ion cannons and tractor beam in an effort to simplify logistics. 3 Sienar M-g-3 ordnance launchers gave it a capacity of 12 concussion missiles total or 9 proton torpedoes total. While its sensor package was shorter-ranged than those of NR or CT starfighters, the average Fencer jockey's hunger for close-range dogfighting may have reduced the demand for such long-range perception. With superior shields and armor to the old Defender, the Fencer quickly supplanted its older sister in the hearts of even the crustiest TIE traditionalists. Sienar's breakthroughs in cost-cutting and manufacturing efficiency also made the Fencer surprisingly inexpensive to produce, having a price tag close to the T-65K's.

* * *

TIE/sp SPECTRE

The IR's answer to the modern stealth fighter concept. Unlike the TIE Phantom of old, the Spectre relied on conventional methods of stealth: a cutting-edge ECM package, stealth coating, engines with a low thermal signature, etc. Quad SFS H-s10 heavy laser cannons and two ion cannons gave it a respectable close-range arsenal, while its three SFS M-g-3 ordnance launchers gave it some respectable long-range firepower. Like the Fencer, it could reach Mach 3.0 in atmosphere without shields, allowing it to outrun most threats. Wing panel-mounted vernier thrusters granted the Spectre superb agility, allowing it to outmaneuver even A-wings and the TIE/vn. Unlike the Fencer, however, it did carry long-ranged sensors on par with NR and CT staples, allowing its pilots to snipe enemies from afar if they so wished. Like the T-90, however, the Spectre's allegedly high price tag and maintenance requirements kept its wartime production low.

* * *

TIE/lg LEGIONNAIRE

Tie TIE/lg was a cheap, expendable droid starfighter designed initially as a gap-filler. The heavy attrition of the Imperial front resulted in a high turnover rate in the Imperial Navy. As more and more ships and pilots were rushed to the front lines, the Imperial Navy found itself lacking the manpower to patrol its inner spacelanes or escort merchant vessels. The first production block of TIE/lgs was released precisely to handle that role. Built on now-inexpensive TIE Avenger tech, the TIE Legionnaire became a common sight in the inner Remnant. As enterprising maintenance crews quickly realized, however, the TIE/lg's robotic nature made it capable of performing truly staggering feats of agility when outfitted with additional maneuvering thrusters and more powerful engines. Word of such modifications quickly filtered up the grapevine to Sienar Fleet Systems and the Imperial Navy. Future production blocks incorporated the aforementioned extra thrusters and engine upgrades as standard, allowing the Legionnaire to function with reasonable competence in frontline combat. While the droid brains were never on the level of meatbag TIE aces, the Legionnaire remained a threat to TIE/fo and TIE/sf pilots in a duel, and in sufficient numbers, could make even the TIE/vn sweat. The lg also saw plenty of use as a reconnaissance craft due to its operating range and powerful sensors. Its expendable nature also meant that Imperial commanders could often throw it into suicide reconnaissance jobs that would have been unacceptable for meatbag pilots, often leading to the acquisition intel that would have otherwise been unobtainable.

* * *

FO-vn FULL ORDNANCE SILENCER

A heavily armed variant of the regular TIE/vn employed by Kylo Ren as a temporary upgrade. On top of the original TIE/vn's armament, the FO-vn carried a pair of heavy laser cannons, additional general-purpose ordnance launchers, and a light turbolaser. To compensate for the added mass and weaponry, FO shipwrights added extra maneuvering thrusters and beefed up the power plant. While it was a powerful foe at long range, the FO-vn remained difficult to effectively maneuver due to its bulk. Its power plant and heatsinks also remained inadequate to take full advantage of its armament. Attempting to fire all of its weapons at once would leave the fighter temporarily drained and overheated, requiring the pilot to carefully cycle weapons and keep track of various temperature readings during long battles. It comes as no surprise, then, that only Kylo Ren ever made extensive use of this design, and even then, he quickly abandoned it when newer starfighters became available.

* * *

Delta-00W0 ANGEL ZERO

The Angel Zero prototype was a relatively simple machine, designed to specialize in exactly one and only one role: extreme long-distance sniping. Built on Kuat Drive Yards' short-lived Delta-0 spaceframe, the Angel Zero carried a twin-linked turbolaser under its nose in place of the original ordnance bay, along with a bank of XL heatsinks, an enlarged power plant, and advanced Zeta Titanium alloy armor. Built for Jedi pilots, the Angel Zero carried an experimental COFFIN neural control system, which allowed the pilot to mentally interface with the machine through the Force, resulting in reduced reaction times and increased information intake. While the COFFIN system did greatly improve a pilot's combat effectiveness, the neural link also placed considerable stress on the pilot's mind, resulting in a very real risk of brain damage and insanity from the information overload. Named and painted in honor of Anakin Skywalker's Azure Angel, the Angel Zero was originally intended for Ben Skywalker's use after all its kinks were ironed out, but the starfighter never reached its intended recipient. Due to the part it played in other events, the Angel Zero and its ultimate fate will be covered in greater detail later in the record.

* * *

TIE/sz SUZERAIN

During his reign as Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren commissioned the First Order's shipwrights to design a starfighter that adequately serve his growing powers, having deemed the old TIE/vn spaceframe as inadequate. The end result was the monstrous TIE/sz, a starfighter that was larger, more heavily armed, but also far more maneuverable than any other TIE before it. Using COFFIN tech captured from Incom, the FO's shipwrights designed their own neural control cockpit dubbed the Forcecom, toning down the information intake in exchange for reduced pilot stress. In addition to quad laser cannons, the TIE/sz also mounts an experimental variable beam laser, which can alternate between a composite beam setting for precision killing or a scatter beam setting for dealing with multiple targets. In addition, it carried 4 beam drones remote-controlled by the Forcecom via an integrated Kyber Circuit. As if that wasn't enough, the TIE/sz also made use of the FO's experimental Modular Armor technology, whereby a starfighter could dock with modular equipment packages to further boost its combat capabilities. Of the FO's proposed Mod Armor designs, only two would see use in the field: the Maneuver Armor, which carried extra engines and a SLAM, and the Saber Drone, which was a wire-guided starfighter-scale lightsaber controllable via Kyber Circuit. In addition to its enlarged twin-ion engines, the TIE/sz also mounted a large number of maneuvering thrusters to grant its considerable bulk a surprising degree of agility. The TIE/sz would see combat only late in the war, but its clashes against the Corellian T-93v would become the stuff of legend.

* * *

RZ-87TB THUNDERBOLT

Commissioned by the New Republic, Incom's Thunderbolt was a prototype starfighter designed in a joint Incom-Tammuz-an venture to test several experimental technologies. Its main weapons, quad laser cannons, were mounted on ball joints to grant the pilot a nearly spherical zone of fire, a sort of evolution of the cannon rotation modifications A-wing pilots favored during the GCW. It also carried a prototype railgun powerful enough to threaten CL-sized hulls. It mounted a set of powerful repulsorlifts to assist in atmospheric maneuvering, as well as amphibious landing gear and water-resistant construction to allow it to land on aquatic planets such as Dac. The few publicly available records on the Thunderbolt indicate reasonably successful performance against the FO's staple TIE models, though allegedly reckless piloting resulting in the prototype's near-destruction during the Battle of Dac.

* * *

T-93v KING RAPTOR

The King Raptor was the starfighter that would eventually become Ben Skywalker's signature ride in the war's climactic close. The King Raptor was a state-of-the-art machine designed as an answer to the First Order's TIE/sz. Built on the T-90 spaceframe, the 93 boasted its older sister's miniature Longprobe system, sensor decoy launchers, above-average shielding, Fabritech's potent ECM-210, on top of brand-new Zeta Titanium alloy armor and an aft-mounted laser anti-missile system, making the King Raptor a difficult nut to crack. The King Raptor also had a Force Frame cockpit, which carried a weaker but much safer neural interface than the Angel Zero's COFFIN. For offense, it carried four of Taim & Bak's new RX9 heavy laser cannons cooled by a bank of XL heatsinks, along with four autonomous beam drones and the same six micro-ordnance launchers found in the T-90. The bream drones, mounted along the engines when inactive, were constructed with an integrated Kyber Circuit that allowed remote control via the Force Frame. The drones could also generate a weak temporary shield when deployed as a group, further adding to the King Raptor's defensive suite. Ultimately, while the King Raptor was more than adequate for its role, the starfighter was not approved for mass production due to its confidential but allegedly wallet-searing price tag, even with the Force Frame system and Kyber Circuit replaced with cheaper, more conventional tech.

* * *

TIE/st STRIGON

The Strigon was the Imperial Remnant's most infamous experimental superfighter. Using the TIE/sp Spectre spaceframe as the baseline, Imperial shipwrights designed a starfighter intended to be able to go toe-to-toe with the Knights of Ren and other Force-enhanced foes. In a first for TIE designs, the Strigon was built with an integrated astromech droid. In addition to assisting the pilot in normal astromech fashion, the Strigon's droid was built to act as a central mind to control a squadron of TIE/lg Legionnaire droids. The Strigon used the TIE Spectre's powerful ECM system and sensor-resistant stealth coating, allowing it to hide amidst its expendable Legionnaire escorts. A built-in SLAM system allowed the Strigon to easily escape from most threats or boom-and-zoom with ease, although the SLAM was power-hungry and prone to breaking down during the stress of combat. The Strigon carried quad laser cannons, a twin-linked ion cannon, as well as two modular hardpoints for heavy weaponry. Only two such hardpoint weapons were released for use before the war's end: a railgun for long-ranged sniping or an omni-directional micro-missile launcher for clearing target-rich environments. The Strigon also featured powerful shields and Zeta Titanium alloy armor, granting the pilot greater protection than any TIE before it. Only a handful of Strigoi were ever built during the war due to the machine's steep price tag. Most would go to elite fighter units like the 181st, although a few would find their way into the ownership of the Imperial Elite Guard.


	12. Fading Fires

12

FADING FIRES

Despite the best efforts of the New Republic, Corellian Treaty, and other powers, the First Order War nevertheless plunged the galaxy into an age of darkness. Across the galaxy, petty polities rose and fell like the tides. The Stellar Kingdom of the Edrachim, formed in the galactic northwest c. 30 ABY, was snuffed out by an invasion of cosmo-barbarian hordes of the Artomanii, Ubericae, and Segenides, whose leaders had long coveted the wealthy worlds of the Edrachim satrapies. The Artomanii, Ubericae, and Segenides founded a new tribal federation atop the ashes of the Stellar Kingdom, only to be swept away by a First Order invasion fleet mere months later.

In the galactic southwest, the Hyadic Kingdom of the Verdant Stars fell into deathly silence after the passage of a Knight of Ren. What happened in the Hyadic Kingdom is not known for certain, but the stories all have common threads: the Knight offered the Hyadic King a secret of the Force, which the King attempted to exploit in preparation for a campaign against the NR-aligned Kwaramek Principate. But in its foolishness, the Hyadic Kingdom unleashed something terrible and profane. Now the Verdant Stars are the Silent Stars, and the hyperlanes to Hyadic space have become impassable. The last travelers to return from Hyadic space spoke of a land where shadows grew long and black stars hung in a stagnant sea.

In the far galactic north, the Akhayyid Hegemony's rapid ascent to the space age was cut tragically short by an equally meteoric descent back into the stone age as it was torn apart by a civil war escalated by the influx of FO, NR, and CT weapons, advisers, and cash. Similarly ruinous proxy wars ignited elsewhere across the Outer Rim, with similarly disastrous results for the people caught in the crossfire.

Coreward, the Osketamish League successfully overthrew New Republic rule to gain its independence. The League, based in space colonies along the rings of the gas giant Osketam, hoped to offer its helium-3 production capacity to the Corellian Treaty and New Separatist Alliance, but collapsed when FOSF sabotaged critical life support centers, unleashed biological weapons into the primary habitats, and sent its capital station plummeting into the gas giant.

* * *

NIGHT MOVES

Following the Battle of Ruusan, Corellian Treaty military leadership continually sought opportunities to seize the strategic initiative and go on the offensive in the Coreward Front. There was a common understanding among the Treaty's Coreward brass that a prolonged defensive war against the then-numerically superior First Order would be a losing bet. As time passed, the FO would logically devote increasing amounts of resources to defending and expanding its currently overstretched, lightly defended supply lines, a situation which could not be allowed to pass. Corellian Treaty leadership had little confidence in the New Republic's ability to hold out against the FO's advance from the galactic north. The space to the galactic west and northwest of Corellia had to be secured before the New Republic crumbled completely.

The Corellian Navy thus laid out a plan to strike at the FO's Coreward holdings and conquer them before the FO could reinforce them. The first phase of this plan was a series of precision strikes along the hyperlanes leading to Aargau, Ixtlar, and Vulpter. Vulpter was a particularly tempting target, as it possessed extensive shipyards to support a rimward push, and was highly vulnerable to a siege due to its heavy dependence on food imports. Two weeks after the Battle of Ruusan, Corellian Treaty brass tasked the Corellian and Duros Navies with taking Vulpter, which would serve as the lynchpin for future northward offensive actions. CVBG-6, led by _Endeavor_ , and CVBG-2, led by _Mantooine_ , were assigned to the Vulpter campaign, which had been code-named Operation Comet, along with Corellia's 1st Army Group and the Duros 3rd Army Group.

During the first week of Operation Comet, Corellian Treaty forces raided FO-aligned supply convoys bound for Vulpter. In the Salomoc Strait hyperlane, _Endeavor's_ carrier wing disabled the FO-marked super-freighters _Deep Core Express_ , _Dewback_ , and _Fambaa,_ allowing boarding teams to capture several hundred thousand tonnes of ammunition, foodstuffs, and fuel bound for the Vulpter System. CVBG-2's ships and carrier wing took up positions along the Ogentia Corridor, sinking several dozen smaller freighters bearing FO insignia along with the Q-ships assigned to convoy escort duty. As Operation Comet progressed, _Mantooine_ would be assigned to keep watch over both hyperlanes while _Endeavor_ provided air cover for the planetary landings.

The Corellian 1st Army Group and Duros 3rd Army group also launched a series of operations around the Vulpter System to probe and weaken its defenses for the coming siege. Corellia's 10th Highlanders Division seized control of Vulpter's nearest major holonet relay station, DataStar 3117-A, in a costly but successful boarding action. They then proceeded to fight off two counter-attacks by FO-aligned Vulptereen forces. Corellian sources estimate that the 10th lost 3,402 of its men, whereas the Vulpter Planetary Guard lost 7,589 killed and 1,303 captured. DataStar 3117-A's capture cut Vulpter off from the FO's coreward comms network while simultaneously opening the door for Treaty intelligence specialists to begin disseminating propaganda to the Vulpter System. The Duros 18th Marine Division infiltrated the Vulpter System's asteroid belt, raiding comms relays and defense platforms to open a hole in the enemy's defenses. The hardest-fought actions took place in the Markonah Atoll and Glass Reef zones, which had been used as planetary militia bases prior to the war. The 18th successfully destroyed the space stations in both zones, albeit at the cost of 3,841 marines killed, including commanding officer Maj. Gen. Torm Hatek. With the stage set, Operation Comet was ready to enter its most important phase, which will be covered in a future chapter.

Such attacks did not go unanswered, however. Even as the Corellian Treaty moved on Vulpter, a FO fleet led by Admiral Roni Tarmann conquered the CT-aligned frontier worlds of Altarannaki III and Qur Sanil, overwhelming the inexperienced infantry divisions stationed on those worlds with a blitzkrieg of well-coordinated naval bombardment, mechanized infantry assaults, and FOSF subterfuge. The Corellian Navy lost the carrier _Gespenst_ , along with five light cruisers and twelve destroyers. Though _Gespenst_ managed to maul the enemy RSD _Orobas_ , she was rendered combat-ineffective by enemy torpedo strikes and scuttled at the edge of the Altarannaki System. Corellia's _Nebula_ -class SD _Grungust_ was also heavily damaged, barely managing to defeat an Interdictor ambush en route to Qur Sanil before needing to be towed back to drydock by its escorts.

* * *

LIKE A DRAGON

The idea of a single united galaxy has historically been an unattainable pipe dream. Rakata, Republics, and Empires have all tried and failed to achieve anything close total map control. With the New Republic on the retreat, much of the galaxy found itself regressing to a more natural state: isolated points of light in the hungering dark, loosely connected by hyperlanes fraught with all the dangers of unfettered scum and villainy. Smugglers and deceitful slavers took great pleasure in answering the calls of refugees desperate to escape the advancing First Order. While some refugees did manage to make it to the relative safety of the Core, millions more had unknowingly doomed themselves to slavery in the Outer Rim, Hutt Space, and First Order territory. Black markets for basic necessities also grew as governments enacted wartime rationing and austerity measures. On worlds like Ord Mantell and Mandhatu, a liter of bacta could cost a week's wages through legal channels, but run as low as 200 credits on the black market if the buyer was willing to take a risk on an inevitably diluted sample. In addition to simple medicine, smugglers also transported other, more harmful chemical pleasures as demand for illicit drugs grew and law enforcement shrank.

"The prevailing mood across the realm is one of despair," said New Republic writer Sarnec Montene. "The nobles debauch themselves in their sealed estates. The forum is empty and untended. Men with black suns and dagger smiles hawk their wares in the middle of Legis Square."

On the Imperial frontier, Army and Stormtrooper Corps forces laid siege to slum districts dominated by Hutt Cartel agents, leveling entire blocks with artillery and carpet bombing when Cartel forces proved too deeply entrenched to dislodge with mere infantry.

In the Wookiee colonial state of the Shorragarr Reach, legislators enacted the draconian 35 ABY Scum Acts after defenestrating a Zann Consortium delegation. Much criticism arose from the galactic legal community, which expressed concern with the modifications made to the Shorragarr Criminal Code's sentencing rules, particularly those concerned with the death penalty and corporal punishment. In contrast, the citizens of the Reach, long fed up with Consortium drug and people trafficking, applauded the new laws.

The galaxy's underworld did not prey solely on the destitute fringes of society, either. For instance, on Kuat, creds, blood, and fine liquor flowed in abundance as rising crime syndicates waged turf wars over prime real estate in the heart of Kuat's red light districts, where cash-rich workers flocked to gamble and party away their earnings after lucrative nights at the system's busy dockyards. On Lianna, Tion Armories faced a scandal when its CFO was found to have hired private mercenaries to raid the headquarters of Sienar Fleet Systems. On Corellia, a number of high-ranking CorSec officers faced prosecution following an internal affairs investigation that revealed an arms smuggling operation linked to Black Sun.

Such was the state of law and order in this age of darkness.

* * *

THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR

In mid-35 ABY, Anzati operatives on the FO's payroll infiltrated Corellian space on a mission to sow terror and, if possible, capture NJO personnel for transport back to FO space. The operation failed, but at great cost: six NJO padawans were killed in action along with several dozen Corellian MPs and planetary militia. Garm Bel Iblis and Planetary Governor Thane were hospitalized. When their getaway craft were found and destroyed, the remaining Anzati assassins gave in to their base thirsts and went feral, slaughtering hundreds of civilians before the last of them were finally put down in the depths of Coronet City's sewers. While Corellia's civilians were suitably terrified, the military and Jedi were furious. SOF specialists and Jedi from across the Corellian Treaty volunteered to join the reprisal mission. Kyle Katarn refused them all, electing to strike back at Anzat alone. In his journals, Katarn feared that none of the volunteers would survive a mission to Anzat. A planet of master assassins was not an easy or conventional target. Katarn also believed that it was his job to make things right. He blamed himself for failing to prevent the loss of so many students and allies.

Upon landing on Anzat, Katarn immediately found himself amid evil. Katarn's journals speak of a world of darkness, where grandiose architectural beauty loomed over filthy alleys and viscera-choked gutters. Anzat in the age of darkness was a land ruled by a vampiric aristocracy that was as brainthirsty as it was long-lived, its base decadence poorly concealed by trappings of opulence. Katarn arrived on the night of a Feast, when the Anzati ruling class unleashed fresh mobs of captured slaves and death-marked ferals into the streets for the common folk to slake their vampiric thirsts. Brains and circuses, as the saying goes. Brain-starved beasts all over the shop, and the hunters chasing them were half-mad with beasthood themselves.

The main perpetrators of the attack were a new-age, dark side-worshipping cult known as the Immaculate Path. Situated at the heart of Anzat's infamous City of Mists, the Immaculate Temple cut an unmistakable figure, a gilded marble ziggurat illuminated from its base by spotlights and pyres. Not far beneath its pristine exterior, however, Katarn unearthed horror after horror. The Path had collected vast numbers of slaves to use in vile experiments and dark rituals. The temple itself was a grand infernal machine, processing a massive intake of captives to use on dark side rituals and alchemical experiments overseen by Knights of Ren, before finally disposing of the dead in bulk to mass-produce the "soup" that the Anzati so craved. Even some Gatalentan Jedi numbered among the captives. The Immaculate Path's assassin-cultists had made good use of their vile alchemical research, augmenting themselves with grotesque cybernetics and bio-mods. Some had modified their brainsucking probosces with reinforced and envenomed bone spikes, some others outfitted themselves with additional cybernetic limbs equipped with Jedi-killing firepower like concussion rifles and assault cannons. Katarn's journals speak of a twisted menagerie of Anzat in varying states of enhancement, each one unique in its terror. And on top of all this, Katarn faced a wide array of conventional but no less lethal threats: mines, automated turrets, blaster-reflective walls, combat droids, corrosive pools, tamed guard beasts, snipers, grenadiers, and more besides. But all this only served to slow down the inevitable.

Katarn strode knee-deep in the dead. His cause was just, his will was strong, and his guns were very, very large. He went into that darkness, destroyed the Path's altars and freed the Path's captives, clearing an escape route to the temple hangars before cleaving and blasting a path to the Temple's leaders. At the very summit of the Immaculate Temple, Katarn confronted the Immaculate Path's most terrible grand masters. Mutated, cybernetically enhanced, and engorged with the soup of untold thousands, the master assassins engaged the Jedi Master in a ruinous battle that left the temple's top floors a smoldering ruin. The exchange that followed was diplomatic, as all Jedi exchanges tend to be. "They were rage, cruel and without mercy. I had to be worse. I ripped and tore until the job was done."


	13. Heavy Metal

13

HEAVY METAL

Vulpter was the first target for the Corellian Treaty's attempt to seize the initiative in the Coreward Front. As one of the FO's key coreward industrial centers, Vulpter could not be allowed to operate freely. As commerce raids and Corellian Treaty marines cut Vulpter off from external support and in-system assets, the stage was set to begin planetary invasion operations. Wraith Squadron operatives infiltrated the planet's main orbital defense station, assassinating its bridge command crew and the Knight of Ren, Kanter Rask. As Rask fell to Ben Skywalker's blade, Commander Voort SaBinring turned the station's guns on Vulpter's navy and minor defense platforms. Other Corellian specialist teams built on the Wraith model carried out similar operations on several other Vulptereen orbital assets. By the time Vulptereen Planetary Command cut through the confusion, Corellian and Duros naval assets had already jumped into the system guns blazing.

Surprised, inexperienced, and caught between two fleets' guns and an enemy-held space station, Vulpter's naval defenders crumbled. Valin Horn and VFA-202 shot down FOSF's Duzakh Squadron at the cost of four starfighters, while the aces of Rogue Squadron destroyed the FOSF's Irkalla Squadron with three starfighters lost. Torpedo strikes from Y-wing squadrons and CT destroyers crippled the Vulptereen flagship _Benoga_ along with her escorts, and sent debris hurtling towards the planet's famous Orbital Advertisement Ring. With its most potent assets lost, the Vulptereen Navy crumbled and scattered.

Under the command of Corellian General Bannon and Duros General Raksi, Corellia's 1st Army Group and Duro's 3rd Army Group began planetfall operations. First into the fight were orbital drop specialist units like the Corellian 305th Marine Division, Clan Ordo 15th Cluster, and Duros 22nd Spaceborne Division, whose main jobs were to clear landing zones, disable surface-to-orbit defenses, sabotage key infrastructure, and wreak havoc behind enemy lines. The invasion's primary targets were the metropolitan areas around Hpaq and Charbi, which were home to most of Vulpter's on-world industry and government.

* * *

HPAQ

Hpaq, the primary Corellian objective, was a heavily defended but geographically vulnerable megalopolis, bordered by open plains and light forests. Thanks to the sabotage of the 305th Marines, Bannon's main force was able to land relatively unmolested, losing few transports during planetfall. Aggressive, boisterous, and vulgar, Bannon was in many ways the opposite number to the Empire's cautious Vauban. Bannon's armored divisions and mechanized infantry landed just outside of Hpaq's aerial defense envelope and rolled towards the city at full speed under cover of self-propelled artillery and _Endeavor_ 's carrier wing. The FO's General Von Barka mounted a clumsy first response, sending his walkers to defend Hpaq's outskirts while his anti-tank and anti-air assets were still preparing to deploy. While walkers and infantry alone might have been enough to kick over poorly equipped Resistance outposts, they proved woefully insufficient against a conventional combined-arms attack. As the FO defenders retreated inward, they left dozens of legged walker hulks smoldering in the outer slag wastes.

As Corellian forces moved further into the Hpaq metropolitan hive, conditions became much more claustrophobic. IEDs, mines, booby-trapped buildings, and rooftop ATGM teams were all very real threats to Corellian heavy armor. While Bannon did have the option to simply level the city with ordnance and roll forward, he and CT high command considered that a last resort. The Corellian Treaty wanted the planet and its industry captured as intact as possible, so the Corellian 1st Army Group would have to dig the enemy out the slow way. The relative lack of civilians, caused by pre-invasion propaganda messages to evacuate, was a small consolation. Dust, smoke, and interference from dense urban conditions also interfered with communications, though the Corellian military's emphasis on squad-level initiative and autonomy allowed troops to operate uninterrupted, albeit in a somewhat more disorganized fashion than was optimal.

In Hpaq's streets, dismounted infantry pushed ahead of the armor, fighting room by room, rooftop by rooftop to clear out enemy ambushes. Even with orders in place to preserve as much of the city as possible, Corellian troops were still forced to break out the big guns to clear the way. Demo charges, tanks, rockets, and grenades were used to blast through walls and clear enemy-occupied rooms. Pinpoint bombardments from artillery and CAS leveled many of the buildings that the FO had turned into strongpoints. Flamethrowers, as always, proved horrifyingly effective in taking out entrenched infantry. In many cases, self-propelled AA guns were brought in to engage enemy-occupied buildings when the tanks' gun elevation proved insufficient.

The Battle of Hpaq was also a reminder of the effectiveness of lightsabers in urban warfare. Knights of Ren used their blades to mouse-hole walls in the same fashion as troops with conventional explosives, scything through unsuspecting Corellian marines in a series of counter-attacks and ambushes. The Knights of Ren at Hpaq were only stopped in their tracks by the arrival of Ben Skywalker, who turned those same tactics back on them. While the Knights of Ren possessed the weaponry and Force talents to counter regular infantry, their poor discipline and lack of training in either stealth or infantry tactics put them lower on the food chain than a properly schooled Jedi Knight, especially one backed up by cybernetic enhancements and a coordinated team of commandos. These were not Kylo Ren's elites, but the expendable neophytes who had joined the Knights after the war's outbreak. With Wraith Squadron's support, Skywalker was able to isolate several of the Knights and add their heads to his tally. FO General Von Barka attempted to counter the Jedi threat by deploying his personal Sith Trooper life company to join the Knights of Ren, but achieved little success as Corellian forces refined their tactics. Corellian forces baited the Knights' headhunter teams with false retreats, luring them into the sights of carefully prepared ambush teams. Skywalker himself continued to win duel after duel, slaying or severely wounding seven FO champions by the campaign's end.

The task of taking Hpaq's southern and western industrial districts fell to the veteran armored and marine divisions of the Corellian 3rd Army. As the elite backbone of the 1st Army Group, these divisions were assigned the most important sector of the Hpaq war zone. Progress was slow but steady, with marine infantry meticulously sweeping city blocks to support the armored advance into the city's rail yards and manufactoria. Unit commanders made good use of the naval liaisons Bannon had assigned to their forces, calling in well-timed air and orbital strikes to soften Vulptereen positions before the tanks rolled over them. Experienced FO reinforcements supported by Knights of Ren and Sith forces put up a tough fight, but the Corellians in this sector had the advantage in firepower, air superiority, and coordination. The 3rd Army achieved its primary objectives six weeks after planetfall.

Hpaq's northern hab districts were the objective of the Corellian 1st Army, made up of a mix of veteran and green divisions. Initial progress was swift as the marines pushed into the outer hab complexes, only to be halted when the inexperienced troops of II Corps were routed by a series of ambushes and counter-attacks by FO armor. This enemy counter-push was only barely halted by a hasty defense mounted by II Corps' rear-echelon divisions, who used carefully laid minefields and time-on-target artillery barrages to pin the FO and Vulptereen troops in place long enough for I and III Corps tanks to swing around and flank the enemy. Heads rolled in the face of II Corps' near-catastrophic failure, with Bannon sacking dozens of senior officers as I and III Corps filled in the gap. Despite this setback, Corellian forces achieved their primary objectives eight weeks after planetfall.

Hpaq's eastern commercial and administrative districts were assigned to the green Corellian 2nd Army. Believing this sector to be lightly defended, Bannon saw east Hpaq as a place to forge veterans out of the 2nd Army. The poorly equipped Vulptereen auxiliaries stationed in this sector initially folded quickly, unwilling to die for their FO allies, but the arrival of decraniated and combat droid reinforcements bolstered their resolve. The battle for east Hpaq unexpectedly devolved into a meat grinder as the Corellian 2nd Army dug into its recently captured positions to weather the massed FO hordes. To its credit, the 2nd Army largely held its ground, despite horrendous losses. Ammunition and fuel supplies ran low in the face of thousands upon thousands of decraniated slaves and battle droids. On several occasions, troops on the verge of being overwhelmed called artillery and aerial bombardments on their own positions to drive back wave after wave of the enemy's cannon fodder. While costly, the 2nd Army survived and accomplished its primary objectives eight and a half weeks after planetfall, albeit at the cost of approximately 65% of its strength.

By the end of the ninth week, the Vulptereen government of Hpaq had surrendered unconditionally to Corellian forces. The remaining FO forces under General Von Barka refused to surrender, taking up positions in the city's Judicial Spire Complex where they held out for three more weeks, until food and water supplies ran short. They sallied forth and mounted a final charge in week 12 of the invasion, only to be cut down by the Corellian armies' massed fire, ending the Battle of Hpaq.

* * *

CHARBI

At Charbi, Duros forces had a harder fight. A society based on space colonies, the Duros had historically not given much priority to heavy land-based firepower like main battle tanks or artillery. In the confines of a space station, heavy ordnance was rarely considered useful on account of its tendency to puncture hulls. Even thermal detonators, demolition charges, and mouse-holing tactics were largely considered emergency measures. Duros doctrine relied heavily on a small but elite marine corps with closely coordinated naval support, but the dust kicked up by large-scale warfare and the difficulty of getting good comm signals in densely packed urban areas dampened the effectiveness of such orbital support. Gunnery crews in orbit had difficulty finding good targeting solutions or maintaining comms with units on the ground. Eventually, General Raksi, Valin Horn, and Duros Admiral Sevval improvised a solution by exploiting data links to SWACS and CAS craft flying over the battlefield, bouncing comms from Duros ground forces to the fleet in orbit. While poor atmospheric conditions continued to be an accuracy malus for orbital artillery, this improvised solution allowed Duros marine units to restore some use of the turbolaser support which made up such a crucial part of their ground combat doctrine.

Unlike the Corellian approach of hitting the city from all angles, the Duros surrounded Charbi and advanced into the city purely from the south in a wide front. Duro's 7th Army took up the western flank, its mechanized divisions fighting through Charbi's agri-dome arcologies. The Duros 8th Army took the center, advancing up the largest highways to hit the commercial and governmental heart of the Charbi megalopolis. Advancing through the easy, the Duros 9th Army took on the city's industrial zones and space elevator.

Much like the Corellian forces, the Duros advance was an urban grind characterized by ambushes, traps, fierce close combat, and careful demolition. The western arcologies went up in smoke as the Duros called in flamer teams and incendiary bombardments to burn concealed enemy troops out of hastily dug tunnels and spider holes. In the center, the 8th Army's infantry took severe casualties as the FO's new Sith Trooper elites clashed with Duros Marines in the cramped confines of the Commercia Spires. The Duros who survived these encounters quickly learned to abandon the cautious spacer mentality on the ground, calling for more liberal application of lethal explosives, CAS, and wall-piercing munitions to soften up enemy-occupied rooms and structures. In a post-Vulpter interview, Valin Horn stated that he and his squadron ran sorties seemingly nonstop to assist the Duros advance. "Enemy resistance was so heavy that we were on call pretty much constantly. There was always something to bomb or torp or gun down. Some days, it felt like the only chances we had to sleep were during our reload-and-refuel periods back at base."

Fighting in Charbi was hardest around the central Plutocrat's Rise and the space elevator, where the FO had concentrated its anti-air defenses and heavy armor. These proved difficult to dislodge, and the volume of anti-air fire was such that SEAD runs by fighter craft were rendered impossible. The infantry would have to dig the enemy out the hard way, with flamers and blasters and bayonets. Entire divisions of the 8th Army were rendered combat-ineffective from the losses they suffered advancing up the Rise, but on the first day of the eighth week, the Executive Tower fell, demolished at last by the 122nd Duros Marine Division. Two days later, the 95th and 471st Duros Marine Divisions entered the space elevator complex, finding only token resistance as the last FO forces retreated in good order deeper inwards. Suspicious at the enemy's activity, General Raksi ordered the marines to hold position and await the arrival of combat engineer units. Unfortunately for the Duros, the order came too late. As the 95th and 471st continued their work, explosives rigged up throughout the space elevator complex detonated, collapsing the space elevator right on top of the 9th Army. The 95th and 471st were annihilated, along with 70% of the 9th Army's frontline combat units. General Raksi ordered the reserve units of the 10th Army to fill in the gap and continue the 9th Army's push, but by then, the battle was effectively over. The last major pocket of FO resistance in the 9th Army's area of operations had spent itself on the trap. The eighth week concluded with the unconditional surrender of Charbi's Vulptereen government.

* * *

AWAKEN, MY MASTERS

 _'Are we really doing this again?'_ \- the average Jedi's reaction to the return of the Sith

The Vulpter Campaign marked the Corellian Treaty's first recorded sighting of the FO's so-called "Sith Troopers." Disciplined, fanatical, and highly trained, such troops were a clear step above the generic rank-and-file stormtroopers. Post-battle autopsies revealed that many of these Sith Troopers did, in fact, possess some degree of True Sith DNA. Traces of carbonite residue were also present in the bloodstreams of many such troopers. The origins of these soldiers would remain a mystery until after the war, when First Order records were released to the public.

In truth, the FO's Sith Troopers were the very same carbonite-frozen Sith Army discovered by the Nightsister Silri (a former associate of the late Tyber Zann and Urai Fenn) some time after Endor. Shortly after the army's discovery, Silri was assassinated by Galactic Imperial agents who had tracked her since her discovery of the holocron containing the Sith Army's location. The still-frozen Sith Army was extracted and relocated to the Unknown Regions along with other critical assets during Operation Cinder as part of the First Order's formation.

The Sith Army's forces did not consist solely of Sith Trooper infantry. Vehicle crews, naval officers, pilots, and Force users numbered among its ranks as well, marked on modern battlefields by red cloth detailing or Sith iconography on their uniforms. Due to their experience and skill, most high-ranking Sith Army personnel were spread out among the FO's forces as officers or small groups of elite warriors. Those with sufficient proficiency in the Force were inducted into the Knights of Ren as advisers, warriors, and alchemists.

* * *

STATE OF THE WAR

The destruction of two FO armies on Vulpter was a major blow to Coreward FO operations, but few historians would consider it a decisive turning point in the Coreward War. Vulpter was just one of multiple industrial centers to consider, and the FO naval losses were negligible compared to those of the native Vulptereen fleet. Nevertheless, this victory emboldened CT strategists, pushing them to lay down the plans for further offensive operations down the road. And while the FO would make retaliatory strikes down the Corellian Run and its tributaries, the loss at Vulpter combined with the loss at Bescane and the destruction of distant Starkiller Base showed the rest of the galaxy that the FO _could_ be beaten. The FO's vassals were shaken, and the fires of planetary rebellions stirred as the FO's image of invulnerability was forever shattered. Vulpter itself would go on to contribute its considerable manufacturing capacity to the Corellian Treaty logistical network, supplying vast quantities of firearms, armored vehicles, ammunition, and droids to the growing CT war machine.


	14. Turning Tides

TURNING TIDES

With the coming of the war's second year came a shift in fortunes for the galaxy's major belligerents. With victories like Bescane, Vulpter, and Ruusan under its belt, the newborn Corellian Treaty had won the respect of much of the galactic community. As the first year came to its close, the First Order quickly realized that there were yet powers in the galaxy which refused to go gently into that good night. While the New Republic was ready to fall apart at the seams, several of the second year's events would serve to underline the fact that the Corellian Treaty was no longer merely a stubborn collection of B-list holdouts and secessionists, but a potential threat to the galactic dominance of both the New Republic and the First Order.

* * *

THE SECOND-YEAR OFFENSIVE

With the Remnant victory at Bescane, the First Order's forces in the galactic north had lost all momentum, sent reeling by the deaths of so many senior officers above the fortress world. Despite the heavy losses suffered by the Imperial Navy, Pellaeon immediately ordered his admirals and generals to seize the initiative and begin the reconquest of Imperial space, starting with Jaemus, Entralla, Muunilinst, and other worlds along Bastion's hyperlane.

To bolster the depleted Imperial military, the first of the so-called Pellaeon Reforms was passed: the Nonhuman Conscription Act. With the NCA, the Central Committee of Grand Moffs declared that all nonhuman citizens, not just near-humans, were eligible for conscription into the Imperial military. Hundreds of nonhuman Army auxilia divisions were raised within a month of the NCA, later followed by large numbers of enlisted naval personnel. The NCA met a mixed reception from the Imperial populace. While some were glad to have the reinforcements or happy to serve the Empire, others resented mandatory military service. However, the political effects of the bill will not be discussed in detail in this record, as their direct effect on the war was negligible.

Belisarius' fleets swiftly retook the Bastion hyperlane, crushing the now-disorganized FO siege fleets with heavyweight assets from Battlefleet Bastion. With the aid of the newly raised NCA auxilia divisions and Bastion's Imperial Elite Guard legions, the Imperial Army was able to crush any remaining FO ground assets along the besieged worlds. Within two months, Bastion's vulnerable coreward flank was secured, allowing the Imperial Navy to push towards its old westward border. Much of the conquered Imperial space had fallen into the hands of either the First Order or a myriad of minor FO client states formed shortly after the initial push into Remnant space. Along the spinward flank was the Hessendine League, a congregation of merchant states that had declared independence from the Remnant in the first year of the war. Led by Admiral Kharun Yoneck, the Remnant fleet sent to invade the League consisted mainly of destroyers, cruisers, and light carriers packing the cream of the Empire's starfighter squadrons. Advancing down the coreward flank, through directly FO-controlled space, was a fleet commanded by Belisarius himself. In anticipation of heavy FO resistance, Belisarius concentrated most of his heavyweight warships into the primary push.

Progress in the Hessendine Theater was astonishingly quick by Imperial standards. Carefully coordinated lightning raids on key hypercomm relays and star forts scattered the Hessendine naval forces, which quickly became uncoordinated in the face of a communications blackout. Taking advantage of the enemy's initial confusion, Admiral Yoneck sent his carriers and light cruisers along the lightly defended Gaslight Trail, capturing the hyperspace hubs of Schenvaal II, Stasbeck, and Fiske. With the Gaslight Trail supply line and three major hyperspace crossroads in Imperial hands, Remnant forces then began the second phase of their strategy. Taking a page out of the Rebel Alliance playbook, Imperial fighter squadrons began commerce-raiding operations, running roughshod over the inexperienced and relatively light Hessendine forces. The worlds of the Hessendine League were economically interdependent, with few planets possessing truly self-sufficient economies, a side effect of pre-war Imperial economic policies. Cut one world off from its connections, and those neighbors would instantly lose access to that world's crucial export, whether that came in the form of grain, fuel, industrial machinery, tibanna gas, or something else necessary to running a war effort. With Imperial fighter squadrons and destroyer wolfpacks infesting Hessendine hyperlanes, more and more of the League's member states began to sue for peace as the year progressed. With the Hessendine League brought back into the fold ahead of schedule, the Imperial forces in this zone halted their push to consolidate territorial gains, allow supply lines to catch up, and fortify the salient they had created in anticipation of a counter-push from coreward FO space to the galactic south or from the cosmo-barbarian tribes to the galactic west.

Belisarius' advance along the coreward hyperlanes was much slower. The First Order fleets along the Via Aurelia and Via Lydinia were not as spineless, green, or poorly armed as the nascent merchant princedoms to the galactic north. Resistance was heavy right from the beginning as Belisarius' forces struck at the Phalanx Cluster, where the FO had dug in on the fortress worlds of Actiolanum, Bessenia, Xanica Colonia, and Aetolium. The wars for these fortress worlds were bloody, urban meat grinders that consumed entire Stormtrooper legions and Army divisions. After three months of gruesome attrition warfare, Belisarius broke through the Phalanx Cluster and engaged in a series of naval slugging matches with the First Order fleets of Grand Admiral Oshika, a veteran of the FO's Unknown Regions campaigns. A near-equal match, the two admirals could not achieve a decisive victory over the other. Despite defeats at Corinna IV and Edyra Prime, the Imperial Navy continued its push forward until it was halted at the industrial world Prasidion, where an immense FO naval and ground presence stubbornly held on. The siege of Prasidion was a grueling affair, for the world's shipyards, arms factories, and ammunition dumps were considered a high-priority objective by both belligerent powers. Given the scarcity of well-equipped ports in the northern Outer Rim, any campaign targeting Bastion or the FO's northern territories would require holding Prasidion and its hyperlane if it wished to have a hope of success. Thus, both the Empire and the FO's northern fleets poured more and more forces into the stalemate at Prasidion, which would continue well into 36 ABY.

* * *

SPOTLIGHT: KINETICS

Although technology tends to march forward during periods of galactic war, there are times when it pays to fall back on older, proven weaponry. As supply lines broke down and key economic producers fell into darkness, many of the galaxy's belligerent powers looked to cheaper, more archaic ways of waging war. The resurgence of kinetic weaponry in the galaxy was a product of this backwards-looking trend. Blaster manufacturing requires a level of infrastructure and expertise that became increasingly inaccessible as the war progressed. Demand and prices for tibanna skyrocketed while supplies dwindled, particularly when trade routes became increasingly unsafe. While blaster pistols and rifles remained a common sight, the galactic markets for heavy weaponry saw a resurgence in affordable, easily manufactured kinetics. The Corellian Treaty powers, for instance, made extensive use of the Coronet Arms H303 self-propelled howitzer and the Gorm-Talquist A-35 cannon, which could be produced at a fraction of the cost of energy-based pieces like the SPMA series. Ammunition for such weaponry could be manufactured in bulk from even the most primitive factories, and the variety in ammunition types granted greater versatility than turbolaser-based ordnance. Smoke, illumination, cluster, and mine shells saw frequent use among the CT's artillerymen throughout the war. The introduction of droid brains as guidance mechanisms further added to the growing popularity of kinetic artillery among the CT powers. Perhaps the only common complaint about such weapons was the logistical burden of storing, transporting, and disposing of the massive quantities of ammunition needed to support a planetary army.

Magnetic weaponry research also returned to relevance on the stellar stage. Mass drivers returned en masse to galactic battlegrounds, most commonly in the hands of Mandalorian vessels, Imperial Remnant armor divisions, and Wookiee bowcaster infantry. Wookiee R&D efforts also saw the adaptation of bowcaster tech into ground-based artillery and naval weaponry. Energy-sheathed explosive shells, inspired by bowcaster ammunition, eventually found their way into the stores of NR and CT artillery batteries as an expensive but undeniably destructive solution to the galaxy's most heavily armored problems.

Though its R&D was stymied by feverish adherence to the glories of old, even the FO's most dogmatic traditionalists saw the potential of solid-ammo weaponry, remembering the effectiveness of Clone-era AT-TE and AT-AP mass drivers. Mass drivers and autocannons saw extensive use in the FO's fleets and armor divisions, though the wealth of its holdings in the Unknown Regions allowed the FO to maintain a reliable supply of turbolasers and other heavy-duty energy weapons.

* * *

THE CRISIS OF 35 ABY

The first quarter of 35 ABY was a military disaster for the New Republic. The inadequacy and slowness of NR reinforcements and resupply to Ord Mantell led to the planet's fall early in the year as the starved and depleted defenders finally surrendered to the invading FO fleet. Dorin fell shortly after as the FO's invasion force was bolstered by the fleet from Ord Mantell. Bilbringi and Palanhi, disappointed at the NR's weakness, defected to the First Order shortly after the loss of Dorin. The FO advance was only barely stopped at the Borleias System, when the NR gathered 6 fleets and 9 army groups with Gatalentan Jedi support to overwhelm the FO and its vassal auxilia. The commander of the operation, Admiral Pariades, was hailed as the Hero of Borleias by the NR media, but in his private memoirs, Pariades noted that another victory like Borleias would kill the New Republic. Nevertheless, the road to Coruscant was secured for the moment. But even with the victory at Borleias, the NR could not rest easy. Under the FO's employ, the cosmo-barbarian warbands of the Lascarae and Chereuscid kingdoms attempted to skirt the NR defenses at Borleias. The barbarian hordes probed at the defenses of the nearby Pranapur Gulf, hoping to open an alternate route to Coruscant and split the NR's badly overstretched defenders.

Economically, the NR continued its decline. The loss of many productive industrial and agricultural centers in the galactic north left the NR's remaining worlds severely under-supplied. The continued degradation of healthcare standards killed countless people and crops in the NR's last few breadbaskets, further exacerbating the food shortages that began in 34. Securities markets suffered greatly as dozens of major galactic corporations exited the public market or went bankrupt. The value of the New Republic credit also worsened on galactic exchanges as faith in the NR's economy evaporated. In addition to public discontent, NR leadership also had to deal with dozens of military rebellions as its armies demanded better pay. Only the intervention of Gatalentan Jedi diplomats managed to calm these rebellious sentiments.

The combined pressures of so many threats proved too much for Supreme Chancellor Odamicus, who suffered a nervous breakdown and was eventually assassinated by his bodyguards. Following the assassination, Odamicus' political opponents seized power, engaging in a series of political campaigns that ultimately culminated in the ostracism of Odamicus' inner circle and the election of Supreme Chancellor Borsk Fey'lya.

* * *

FAREWELL, FRIENDS

While Corellian Treaty strategists saw the fall of Ord Mantell and Dorin as inevitable, they had not expected them to fall so early in the year. With Ord Mantell's collapse, the recently charted hyperlane between the Bright Jewel System and the Corsin System had been flung wide open, providing the First Order with an additional invasion corridor southward. The Corsin System was overwhelmed and burned within a week, and FO-aligned fleets quickly ran down connecting hyperlanes, burning and plundering all they saw. The largest of these fleets targeted Kashyyyk and Taanab, prompting Corellian Treaty brass to cancel planned invasions of FO vassal states along the Perlemian Trade Route.

Taanab's importance as an agri-world had won it many friends in the galactic community, and its history of dealing with pirate raids had led to an interbellum push towards militarization. Unwilling to see their breadbasket put to the torch, many of Taanab's neighbors rushed to heed the call of the Taanab Yellow Aces, contributing warships, starfighters, materiel, and manpower to the cause. By this point, the Hapes Consortium could also not afford to remain neutral any longer due to its reliance on Taanab's agriculture and commerce along the Perlemian Trade Route. Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo added her signature to the Corellian Treaty five days after the fall of Corsin, sending the Hapan Royal Navy's 2nd Fleet to Taanab's defense. Taanab's defenders quickly annihilated the First Order invasion fleet's vanguard elements. Seeing the magnitude of the firepower arrayed against it, the Taanab invasion fleet retreated to Gizer, where it remained for some time, having the numbers and weight to lock down much of the Perlemian Trade Route but not enough to make an invasion of Taanab anything more than a pyrrhic victory at best. And so the stalemate at Taanab began.

Kashyyyk was a very different story. While the Wookiees were as fearsome as ever on the ground, they had yet to catch up with other Corellian powers in the field of naval power, still lacking the capacity to manufacture battleships and full-sized carriers. The Wookiees' assortment of escorts and heavily armored cruisers could punch above their weight class, especially once in boarding torpedo range, but they still could not hope to stand against a _Resurgent_ -class SD. Standing with the Wookiees were Corellia's 6th Carrier Group and 1st Army Group, the Duros 10th Fleet and 22nd Army Group, the Givin 3rd and 4th Fleets, and assorted fleets and armies raised from Wookiee colonies around the Mytaranor Sector.

Rather than sit and wait at Kashyyyk, the Corellian Treaty navies attempted to soften the enemy from the moment it left port at Lantillies. Sortie after sortie of starfighters harried the enemy's escorts and tankers, assisted by stealthed torpedo boats, mine layers, and Longprobe reconnaissance craft. However, the First Order fleet master, Admiral Vale, had long since cottoned on to the old Rebel Alliance carrier playbook, having defected from the New Republic shortly after the Hosnian Cataclysm. The Treaty's carrier strikes were blunted by Vale's adoption of New Republic anti-air escort formations, with scores of torpedoes detonating harmlessly in storms of point-defense fire. Treaty fighter wings were forced to engage at ranges too close for comfort, and as Vale's fleet closed in, more and more squadrons returned with vacancies to fill. While the First Order's still-obsolete point defenses could not totally avert casualties, the losses inflicted were not enough to force a retreat or a change in plans.

When the First Order reached Kashyyyk, the story in space progressed in much the same way as at Bescane, Ord Mantell, Dorin, and countless other worlds. The FO fleet, overwhelming in its size and weight, battered aside any who dared slug it out in a gunnery duel. The Trandoshan Navy, kept at bay until now, sprung from the dark side of Trandosha to assist the First Order. Within days, the FO and its allies had achieved space superiority, forcing the surviving CT fleets to retreat to the system's edge to preserve their numbers and await the call to protect a last-ditch evacuation.

Fat-bellied transports descended on Kashyyyk like a swarm of insects. Chenachochan was glassed from orbit. Okikuti fell to the FO's 1307th Legion, granting the FO access to the city's fisheries, farms, and mines. The Ittummi Fortress, home to one of Kashyyyk's oldest berserker temples, stood for a time as Chieftain Shorrkarr and his raging warriors put up a courageous defense, but courage alone was not enough. One month after planetfall, the Ittummi Fortress was a smoking, bloody ruin, its defenders killed to the last man by the Trandoshan 4th Army. Tunnatutikan was drowned as FO Special Forces troops sabotaged the nearby Freyyr Dam. Kerritamba City burned as First Order TIEs firebombed the Kkowir Forest, its few surviving evacuees captured by Trandoshan slavers as they fled to neighboring towns. The CT ground forces were quickly pushed back, concentrating their defenses in the great cities of Rwookrrorro, Kachirho, and Kepitenochan.

Kepitenochan fell after three months, its walls breached by titanic siege weapons and its government tree burnt to ash along with Jedi Knight Rosh Penin, Star Colonel Roderic Ordo, Chieftain Korro, and approximately 21 divisions' worth of troops. Penin, Ordo, and Korro were personally slain by the infamous Amon Horkos, a Knight of Ren more commonly known as the Butcher of Contruum. Kachirho was razed two weeks after Kepitenochan. FOSF and Trandoshan commando teams had blinded Kachirho's defenders by silencing nearby coastwatcher stations. Using code books looted from slain coastwatchers, FO forces were able to avoid most Corellian Treaty patrols, catching the city by surprise. As stormtroopers and walkers flooded into the city, Chieftain Tarfful led the defense of Kachirho's last wall. For a time, it seemed as if the Treaty forces in Kachirho would hold out, but on the penultimate day of the siege, Tarfful was wounded by a poisoned blade during a duel with a Trandoshan champion. Though Tarfful killed the Trandoshan, his death from poison sapped the defenders' morale and emboldened the First Order and Trandoshan forces at the final gate. Kachirho fell the next day, its defenders fighting to the last man. Perhaps the only consolation in Kachirho's destruction for the Corellian Treaty was the successful sabotage of the city's spaceport, denying its use to the First Order. Only Rwookrrorro remained.

Kashyyyk's capital city was no longer a humble habitation platform among the trees but a Wookiee metropolis with defenses on par with anything in Imperial space. Multiple layers of theater shields, hundreds of artillery and anti-air batteries, nigh-impregnable curtain walls, and dozens of anti-orbital weapon batteries kept the city and its inhabitants safe. There would be no surprise from the woods, for the city's leaders had ordered the nearby forests leveled for kilometers around. Here, the greatest of Kashyyyk's leaders and warriors made their stand. Commanding the defense were the chieftains Attichitcuk, Ovarra, and Attabura, along with General Bannon of Corellia, General Kasor of Duro, and SaKhan Alaric Ordo of Mandalore. The First Order force marching on Rwookrrorro, while formidable, had been badly bled by the stubbornness of Kashyyyk's defenders and its inexperience in navigating the treacherous, inhospitable wilds of the planet. With the Corellian Treaty fighting tooth and nail to maintain air superiority around Rwookrrorro, the besieging FO forces faced an imminent supply shortage as orbital supply lines were forced to land further and further from the front. They had no choice but to attempt an immediate breach.

The outermost walls held for a two weeks, surviving multiple scaling attempts by FO war machines and bombardments by FO siege artillery. Time and time again, Jedi Master Kyle Katarn and Triumphant Grakarr of the Alaris Prime 1st Army rallied the troops, pushing back the FO divisions that managed to set foot on the walls. The first line was finally breached when one of the First Order's superlaser siege cannons penetrated the armored shutter protecting one of the wall guns, setting off the gun's magazine and causing a catastrophic chain reaction of secondary explosions that destroyed a section of the wall, burying a division of Corellian Marines and the Jedi Knight Baldwin of Hyades. As FO troops flooded into Rwookrrorro's outermost hab districts, General Bannon's Corellian armored divisions swing in from north of the breach, supported by air cover from Rogue Squadron, Wraith Squadron, and three wings of Wookiee fighter-bombers, but were pushed back by a suicidal counter-charge performed by the Trandoshan 2nd Army's own armored and mechanized units. It was at this point that Ashtar Moloch, one of Kylo Ren's chosen lieutenants, took to the field, pursuing the retreating Corellians with a retinue of his fellow Oathbreakers. Moloch claimed the heads of Jedi Knight Dorsk 83 and Wookiee berserker chief Kwarrurrok Red-Hand before falling back from the second wall's withering firepower.

The second and final wall protected Inner Rwookrrorro, the old districts of the city housing the planetary government tree and spaceport. With their tight timetable worsened by the cost of taking the first wall, the FO forces gambled on an all-or-nothing push as their food and water supplies reached critical levels. FO and Trandoshan forces unleashed everything they had at the second wall. The deployment of FO executioners and Knight of Ren enforcers made it abundantly clear to the troops that there would be no retreat, no surrender. The hell unleashed on the second wall was punishing. The 208th Kashyyyk Mechanized and 119th Kashyyyk Ranger Divisions were annihilated entirely when artillery fire obliterated their barracks in the old commercial district. The 25th Corellian Highlanders Division was rendered combat-ineffective after suffering 80% losses against a scaling attempt by flamer-equipped war machines. General Kasor was very nearly killed by falling rubble while en route to take command of the eastern sector of the second wall, while Attabura was severely wounded by an enemy sniper. When Horkos, Moloch, and their fellow dark Knights set foot on the second wall, none could stand before them. Chieftain Ovarra was maimed when she attempted to stop them with a cadre of berserkers and rangers. Chieftain Attichitcuk suffered equally severe injuries fighting off a team of Trandoshan commandos. An airburst artillery shell incapacitated Jedi Knight Godfrey of Montressonne, leaving Ben Skywalker and Kyle Katarn alone to face the enemy Knights. As Katarn charged Moloch and his bodyguards, Skywalker dueled the Butcher.

Even after witnessing the atrocities Moloch's cabal had committed against Rwookrrorro's civilians, Katarn could not bring himself to aim for killing strikes at first. He exhorted them to lay down their arms and turn back from the dark path, only for his pleas to fall on deaf ears. As Moloch drew a blaster to try and execute the fallen Godfrey, Katarn realized that there would be no redemption for these former students like there was with Rosh Penin. Only then did he stop holding back, throwing himself back into the fight with lethal intent, but even a Jedi Master could fall when he was as outnumbered and tired as Katarn was in this moment.

Against the Butcher of Contruum, Skywalker initially held the upper hand. Fatigued, bleeding from a score of minor wounds, Skywalker was nevertheless the superior swordsman, having spent his time since Ruusan training and studying feverishly under the tutelage of Korr and Katarn. Horkos had grown complacent after years of easy victories, and now found himself unable to open up Skywalker's defense or match the freakish strength that the Jedi had inherited from his father and grandfather. As the two dueled, Horkos was forced back, unable to retake the offensive, his very bones shuddering with each impact of Skywalker's lightsaber until a stray siege laser blast leveled his Jedi foe. With the young Jedi knocked senseless, the Knight of Ren seized the opportunity, raising his saber pike to perform the coup de grace.

All seemed lost until a familiar flash of green fire struck down the Butcher of Contruum. Unseen since the Ossus Massacre, Grand Master Luke Skywalker had returned to the galaxy. He appeared as his friends and family remembered him: standing proud and strong in the iconic Endor black, holding aloft the blade that carved his legend into the stage of history. A cheer that could split the heavens erupted among the Corellian Treaty armies as the greatest Jedi in history once again went to war. Struck with terror, the First Order force halted in its tracks, then fell back in a panic as Rwookrrorro's defenders sallied forth in support of Luke Skywalker's advance. Father and son led the charge, the two Skywalkers fighting side by side. The enemy's armor was no match for Luke's mastery of the Force, and his skill with the ancient saber forms bested any blaster or blade brought to bear against him. The Trandoshans immediately attempted to retreat from Kashyyyk altogether to preserve the loot and slaves they had acquired so far. The FO, rallied by their generals and ancient Sith overseers, made an attempt to regroup and counter-attack, but the Trandoshan departure left the FO's flanks wide open. Unwilling to allow his entire landing force to be annihilated, Admiral Vale ordered a general retreat, scrambling every fighter squadron and transport he had left to salvage such a disastrous defeat. As more and more ships entered the system from the Wookiee colonies, the FO's naval superiority waned. There was no more reason to stay, and no time to glass the planet out of spite. Of the Knights of Ren who took to the field that day, only Ashtar Moloch survived, retreating to the FO's evacuation transports after Katarn claimed the fallen Knight's sword arm.

What the Jedi failed to realize until the end of the battle was that this was Luke Skywalker's last hurrah. Unbeknownst to his comrades in the Corellian Treaty, Skywalker had performed the near-impossible: with the Force, he had split, projected, and solidified his image in two separate places at once across astronomical distances, fighting on Kashyyyk with his old friends while also lending his sword to another major battle in the Resistance Theater. While his actions proved pivotal to successes on both fronts, the cost of achieving those victories was a heavy one. Fatigued and wounded by years of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, Luke Skywalker proved unable to survive the strain of fragmenting his consciousness. Minutes after the Battle of Kashyyyk ended, Luke Skywalker breathed his last, and his shade on Kashyyyk faded with him. Every Jedi Knight in the galaxy felt his passing, and a great melancholy fell upon the Corellian Treaty as the news began to spread. One more candle to add to the makeshift memorial on Corellia. Such was the fate of all who joined the endless vigil.

Kashyyyk was a smoking ruin. Much of the planet's once-green surface was scorched black and most of her greatest cities were naught but rubble and corpses. However, the Wookiees were a hardy people, and most of the civilian population outside Rwookrrorro had managed to survive, eking out a living among the trees or in minor provincial towns far from the FO invasion's primary objectives. The Wookiee colonies, untouched by the invasion, answered the homeworld's call once more after the battle to lend what aid they could and protect Kashyyyk space from further Trandoshan attacks. Attichitcuk, Ovarra, and Attabura survived their injuries, as did General Kasor and Jedi Knights Baldwin and Godfrey. Corellian Treaty casualties were immense, and the Corellian, Duros, and Givin assets deployed at Kashyyyk were rotated out of frontline service to catch much-needed rest, repairs, and replacements. The Mandalorian mercenaries slain in the siege were celebrated in Clan Ordo's sagas, and SaKhan Alaric led the ceremonies that saw them all brought into the embrace of the Manda, where they would ride eternal, shiny, and beskar.

Trandosha itself was far too heavily defended, and the Corellian Treaty forces far too exhausted for a counter-invasion plan to be feasible. Until such a time when that plan did become feasible, Wookiee colonial fleets maintained a blockade over the planet, denying the First Order further access to Trandoshan mercenaries. Admiral Vale's star had fallen as quickly as it had risen, his quick victories in the galactic east overshadowed by this grand defeat. Rather than face the FO Admiralty and Kylo Ren to account for the loss of so many expensive FO assets, Vale took his own life, leaving his second-in-command to be the unfortunate bearer of bad news.

* * *

STATE OF THE WAR

With victories at Bescane, Ruusan, Vulpter, and now Kashyyyk and Hessendine, the Corellian Treaty had seized the initiative, winning a string of high-profile victories in the Imperial and Coreward Theaters. With all eyes on the First Order, its loss of momentum in the galactic east and north had disappointed many of its potential allies and vassals in the Core, Colonies, Mid Rim, and Inner Rim, who increasingly looked to the Corellian Treaty's banner instead. The allegedly neutral New Separatist Alliance and Confederacy of Corporate Systems both began to shift their business plans away from First Order preferential treatment as well.

The New Republic at this point in the war had earned its moniker of "Sick Man of the Galaxy." While its territory and military remained far larger most of the galaxy's polities (including the Corellian Treaty), rampant mismanagement, corruption, and catastrophes threatened to tear it apart completely. Markets, morale, and living standards had plummeted during Odamicus' term. The term of newly elected Supreme Chancellor Fey'lya was perhaps the New Republic's last chance to bounce back from the brink. Even so, many believed that Coruscant's time in the sun would quickly pass to the ascendant "Eagle of the East," as certain hyperbolic tabloids labeled the eastern CT powers.


	15. On the Shores of Hell

ON THE SHORES OF HELL

Following the Battle of Kashyyyk, fleets from the Wookiee colonies pushed towards Gizer, coordinating with the Taanab fleet to catch the First Order in a pincer. Rather than wasting ships on a probable loss, the FO forces at Gizer heeded the advice of the retreating Kashyyyk invasion fleet and retreated to the more secure position of Corsin. Pushing the First Order off Gizer allowed Corellian Treaty forces at Taanab, Hapes, and Kashyyyk to unite and embark on a campaign to capture the Perlemian Trade Route. Using Lantillies as a mustering point, the combined CT fleets in the galactic northeast pushed up past Roche, engaging FO fleets in a series of skirmishes along the hyperlane, restoring contact with allies like the Maldrood Sector and Remnant-aligned Lianna. While the Battle for the Perlemian Trade Route was far from over, the FO losses at Kashyyyk and Gizer prevented a complete lockdown of the hyperlane. This turn of events reopened a vital supply line for the New Republic, restoring the fastest path from Coruscant to Dac after the Mon Calamari 5th Fleet broke the FO blockade at Quermia. The Jedi managed to make a brief return to their old home on Ossus, where they were able to lay the dead to rest and recover many of their lost relics. The Perlemian could not be decisively captured, however, unless the First Order presence in the Sith Worlds was eliminated.

The old Sith Worlds had, unsurprisingly, become occupied by the First Order as its administrative and military capital in the galactic east. Planets like Korriban, Ziost, and Dromund Kaas were considered holy sites for the Knights of Ren, and had been turned into FO strongholds as a result. With the NR occupied in the west and the CT still reestablishing supply lines along the Perlemian, a full military campaign to cleanse the Sith Worlds would have to wait. Nevertheless, Jedi and special operations forces maintained a continuous campaign of destabilizing the FO presence around the Esstran Sector.

Fighter wings from Corellian CVBGs 3 and 4 picked at the edges of the Esstran Sector, harassing supply shipments and destroying spaceborne observation posts to conceal the insertion of commandos and Jedi operatives. Among these operatives was none other than Jedi Prince Ken Palpatine, the supposed grandson of the most infamous Sith Lord in history. To the surprise of nobody, both the NJO and CT propagandists milked the idea for all the laughs they could. The young Palpatine was deliberately assigned to a number of high-profile diversionary operations around Esstran, and news of his exploits soon spread through conventional headlines and the propaganda leaflets dropped into FO lines. As the naval asset closest to the front, the FO's Battlefleet Korriban was tasked with capturing the young Palpatine. In taking the bait, however, the First Order's defenses around Korriban were left with a brief opening, which was exploited by the Corellian Treaty to insert a team consisting of Jaden Korr and a platoon of Duros Marine Raiders. Givin codebreakers had discovered that most of the First Order's Sith and Knights were abroad on campaign, leaving the Valley of the Dark Lords with only a token defense force. During this raid, the recently restored Tomb of Marka Ragnos was demolished and the ancient relics stored inside were put to the torch. While the raid's strategic worth was negligible, the propaganda value was unquestionable, particularly in the face of the bad news that would ensue across the rest of the galaxy.

* * *

WHEN THE DRAGON SWIMS, THE WORLD ENDS

"Here be dragons." Once a common map marker for parts unknown, this phrase took on a sinister new meaning during the war. For the first time since the Galactic Civil War, a Duinuogwuin had returned to the known galaxy. Ancient and impossibly powerful, the Duinuogwuin were terrifying foes, easily capable of burning starships to ash when fully matured. Elder Duinuogwuin were not mere organisms so much as spacefaring forces of nature. Some were even capable of tapping into the Force, with recorded Duinuogwuin Jedi appearing in OJO records a handful of times across the millennia. The creature that awoke to the galaxy of 35 ABY, however, was no Jedi, its first roars emanating as a psychic scream that pained and darkened the minds of Force users on planets as far as Alsakan. The first confirmed sighting of the star dragon was recorded in a black box taken from the wreckage of what used to be the Corellian 3rd and 4th Carrier Groups, taken by holocam approximately one week after the Korriban raid. Additional sightings of the dragon were reported at Abhean, Sembla, Elom, and Makem Te, each time amid a cloud of debris and corpses. The few survivors who witnessed the dragon's passing were driven mad or terrified into a silent stupor. Initial attempts to track the creature's movements and kill it were disastrous failures, leading to the deaths of entire fighter wings and flotillas. A further attempt by the NJO to scry the creature's location with the Force also failed, nearly destroying the mind of Jedi Knight Keyan Farlander and briefly rendering him comatose. Additional proper records of the dragon would not appear until the beginning of 36 ABY, but one thing was for certain: until it was found and slain, the dragon would continue to burn worlds and fleets wherever it went.

* * *

TOOTH AND NAIL, CLOAK AND DAGGER

The third quarter of 35 ABY brought a brief respite for the New Republic as reinforcements from Dac and other allied worlds filtered in from the Perlemian Trade Route. With these fresh troops, the New Republic Navy was able to continue holding on to Borleias and Uviuy Exen in the face of additional First Order attacks. The defenses at the nearby Pranapur Gulf in the NR's galactic western reaches had become porous, however, and despite the Navy's best efforts, it could not stop the Lascarae and Chereuscid forces from slipping raiding parties through to harass the worlds to the galactic southwest of Coruscant. A counter-attack led by Admiral Pariades along the Hydian Way managed to advance as far as Bogden, but FO raids on the NR's supply lines forced Pariades to retreat back to Champala, where his rear-echelon forces were less spread-out and less vulnerable to opportunistic strikes. Palanhi was later reconquered when two NR fleets under Admirals Tar'fya and Kannek launched simultaneous attacks from Borleias and Uviuy Exen. However, Palanhi was lost again a month later following a counter-attack by a First Order fleet from Bilbringi and the defection of the formerly NR-aligned planet Vakkar to the galactic west.

On the civilian side, Chancellor Fey'lya had briefly managed to delay the NR's economic decline by bailing out various failing corporations. Troops were granted higher salaries to ensure their loyalty, and generals received lavish "bonuses" paid for by the federal treasury. While these measures managed to keep the military from grumbling, civilians took issue with Fey'lya's spending policies, which could only be sustained by massive increases to taxation, which Fey'lya enacted unilaterally rather than seeking the input of the legislature or judiciary. When a lawsuit by Alsakan taxpayers was struck down, the people of Alsakan rebelled, only for the rebellion to be violently suppressed by the NR military. Senator Dorian Hirken of Alsakan was later found dead in his home, officially of "natural causes," after speaking out in support of the Alsakan uprising and criticizing the allegedly poor enforcement of the new taxes in the Bothan Sector.

* * *

EXCERPTS FROM PROJECT GN

After ZT alloy's success on the starfighter market, the BOD [board of directors] commissioned R&D Alpha to explore other uses and variations on the alloy. As of 35 ABY, ZT alloy research project statuses are as follows:

Civilian, ground vehicles: ++CANCELLED++

Civilian, hazardous environment: ++ONGOING++

Military, capital warships: ++POSTPONED++ [excessive cost at this stage of product lifespan]

Military, ground vehicles: ++CANCELLED++

Military, infantry armor, unpowered: ++CANCELLED++ [all alloy variants proved uncomfortable, excessively heavy]

Military, infantry armor, powered: ++SUCCESS++ [Mazin Zeta alloy variant cleared for limited production, sale to CT and NR]

[...]

M-IA-P research began end of FY 34 ABY, ended in Q3 of FY 35 ABY. All research and testing occurred at [REDACTED]. Research objectives were to produce a ZT alloy variation with higher energy and shrapnel resistance than the market leaders in plastoid and ceramic armor; to produce this alloy for a lower cost than Mandalorian beskar; and to produce an alloy that would be easily worked into suits of powered infantry armor. Secondary objective: produce a viable cybernetic implant using the alloy. Tertiary objective: produce a boarding shield for spaceborne troops using the alloy. Project was completed with the aid of [REDACTED], a third-party test pilot from the Corellian Navy/New Jedi Order.

[...]

Test Phi-13: Internal reactor incomplete. Mazin Zeta suit tested with umbilical cable link to facility generators instead. Test subject reported satisfactory power supply to all components and satisfactory user-friendliness for power distribution screen in helmet UI...Green readouts on all lightsaber/vibroblade recharge racks. Under power from emergency batteries, MZ suit was able to operate at standard capacity for five (5) Coruscant standard minutes. Without power, movement speed and agility were drastically reduced, to the point that the test subject was rendered combat-ineffective.

Test subject also reported satisfaction and biological compatibility with bionic connection port in left shoulder. Integrated cybernetic implant (left arm) is capable of normal human movements, but test subject reported difficulty performing more inhuman movements (Movements tested: bending fingers backward, bending arm backward at elbow, 720-degree hand rotation) compared to his previous cybernetic arm.

[...]

Test Kappa-17: Full combat test of MZ suit with miniature photon reactor, jetpack, and integrated weapons.

Reactor: Functional. Consistently high output throughout test, recommend shift to full production.

Jetpack: Functional. Accidental collision with droid target inflicted zero damage on jetpack's wings while bisecting the

Rocket punch (cybernetic arm): Functional. Fingertip retrothrusters also functional as return mechanism.

ACP scattergun (inside upper cyberarm section): Functional.

Heat management: Satisfactory. Test subject's experimentation with manual management resulted in unintended outcome of turning the cybernetic arm into a thermal weapon when subject accidentally rerouted all heat distribution into fingertips and arm radiators. Test subject's left hand burned red, but only suffered cosmetic damage to paint. No repairs needed. Additional tests of this function are recommended.

Boarding shield: Test subject reports that shield is easily usable with powered armor, but impractically heavy without it. [Addendum: BOD considers this acceptable.]

[...]

BOD reports that it is pleased with test suit, implant potential, and shield, but recommends further experimentation to reduce costs. See attachment RGM-79 for further details.

* * *

YOUTHFUL ARCADIA

 _"I swear, I'll one-up that Terrik fellow before this war ends, or my name isn't Barpotomous Locke Drebble."_

 _"Your middle name is Locke?"_

 _"We'll find out in a couple of years, Calrissian."_

 _-_ Barpotomous Drebble and Lando Calrissian, 35 ABY

Two weeks after the Battle of Gizer, New Republic and Corellian Treaty forces defeated the First Order blockade of the Spadja Sector, reestablishing its connection to the Perlemian Trade Route. In doing so, the NR and CT fleets gained the allegiance of Barpotomous Drebble, along with the planets and PMCs of the Spadja Sector. Still beloved among the people of Spadja, Drebble had connections to a myriad of pirates, hired guns, and smugglers. In exchange for official letters of marque from the NR and CT governments, Drebble granted the two blocs exclusive access to the services of his own corsairs and extensive mercenary contacts, along with heavily discounted rates. Experienced mercenaries like VTX United, the Anti-Empire Union Group, the Kell Dragoons, Arzenal, Brave Express LLC, ARX Mithril, and the Grand Galaxy Guard found no shortage of employment in the war to come. The planets of the Spadja Sector also added their signatures to the Corellian Treaty or rejoined the New Republic, contributing their economies and armies to the war effort.

One of Drebble's most famous victories would occur near the end of the year's third quarter, along the Hydian Way. Drebble's new flagship, the _Youthful Arcadia_ , ambushed a First Order convoy bound for the galactic west and the Unknown Regions. In addition to looting the wish-granting (not actually wish-granting) Seven Krayt Pearls of Keman from a First Order treasury ship, Drebble's corsairs also liberated a number of high-profile prisoners of war aboard a First Order penal vessel, including the infamous Talon Karrde and Lando Calrissian. Upon their return to friendly space, Karrde and Calrissian reconvened with a number of their old contacts in deep space along the Corellian Run, pledging to join the war effort on the side of the New Republic and Corellian Treaty so long as the credits were good. Faces old and new came in from the cold: Drebble himself aboard the _Youthful Arcadia_ ; Calrissian on _Lady Luck_ ; Captain Dash Rendar of the _Outrider_ ; Captain Jaxxon of the _Rabbit's Foot_ ; Captain Mazzic of the _Distant Rainbow_ ; Jet Sable of the _Gaucho Quenk_ ; the Crossbone Seven; "Immortal" Hondo Ohnaka and his gang; Jean Solarwind of the _Desperado Sun_ ; Captain Buck Reynauld of the _Tranquility_ ; and many more. Booster and Mirax Terrik had also been in the fight from the beginning, and were more than happy to continue what they'd been doing already. A rogue's gallery of pirate lords, scoundrels, and ne'er-do-wells answered Karrde's call to arms, ready to reap the profits of yet another galactic throw-down. For better or for worse, the Smuggler's Alliance was back in business.

Naturally, the First Order was in on the underworld game as well, and had been for quite some time. Black Sun's old alliance to the Galactic Empire had transferred to the First Order following the Remnant's anti-piracy campaigns. The Zann Consortium, down on its luck following Tyber Zann's death, had been silently infiltrated by FO agents during the interbellum, becoming a full-blown front for FO Intelligence shortly before the Hosnian Cataclysm. The FO had also experienced greater success than its enemies at winning the support of Hutt cartels, as interbellum New Republic anti-piracy and anti-drug campaigns had been particularly harsh on Hutt Space. Over the coming months, as the Smuggler's Alliance clashed with the First Order's criminal arm, the ongoing galactic conflict would see a new front open up: the Underworld War.


	16. Escalation

ESCALATION

As 35 ABY progressed into 36, new foes, tactics, and weapons emerged amid the fires of war, and major developments threatened to shift the galactic balance of power yet again. R&D efforts were in full swing as the First Order and Corellian Treaty raced to achieve a technological advantage over one another. The end of 35 ABY would see the first appearances of the TIE Spectre and T-90A Raptor, as well as a host of new horrors from the depths of First Order space.

* * *

PRASIDION

 _"There are few planets more hateful than Prasidion. Were it not for its military importance, I would have glassed this place from orbit."_ \- Admiral Jonah Belisarius, 35 ABY

As one of the most crucial objectives in the galactic north, the Prasidion System was the site of the largest battles in the Imperial Theater in 35 ABY. The Imperial Remnant was reluctant to suffer casualties on the level sustained during the liberation of the Bastion hyperlane. The First Order's heavy use of Spaarti cloning and forcible decraniation left the Remnant at a distinct disadvantage if it tried to win an offensive campaign through raw attrition. Thus, rather than adopting General Vauban's grinding siege strategies, the ground command staff chose to appoint the more mobile and dynamic General Dragases to take command of the invasion force.

Before hitting Prasidion itself, the Remnant needed to deal with the system's outer planets. At the system's edge was the desolate rock Fortuna, home to a listening post and an in-system comm relay manned by a division of vassal conscripts. Belisarius bypassed Fortuna entirely, relying on his fleets' ECM systems to jam enemy comms long enough to reach the first of the Remnant's real objectives: the gas giant Cherona. Cherona was home to multiple gas-mining platforms responsible for supplying Prasidion with vast quantities of helium-3, an isotope with a wide variety of industrial and military applications. Before the war, the Remnant had fortified these mining platforms, constructing enormous armored domes over their critical sections. A handful of roofless external landing pads allowed conventional unloading of personnel and equipment, and each pad was heavily protected by anti-air weapons. Heavy armored fighting vehicles were unusable on the floating platforms due to weight concerns, leaving the task to the poor bloody infantry. Intent on seizing Cherona's helium-3 industry intact, Belisarius and Dragases both agreed that a planetary landing was preferable to simple airstrikes. Dragases tasked his subordinate General Gerhart Voss with taking Cherona, giving him command of fifteen Imperial Army infantry divisions and five stormtrooper legions, including the elite 501st. The carrier _Ark Imperial_ was assigned to assist the Cherona landings, along with the destroyers _Scimitar_ , _Sanguine_ , and _Stiletto_.

Given the obvious risk of a direct assault from above, Voss chose to make his first planetary insertions ten kilometers away from each platform, keeping his transports flying at perilously low altitude on approach. This minimized the number of AA guns capable of depressing to aim at his transports, but also risked putting his troops in close proximity to the planet's atmospheric storms. Fortunately for Voss, careful maneuvering and accurate intel from naval meteorologists kept environmental casualties low, resulting in the loss of less than ten transports to the storms. The first wave, consisting of Imperial Commandos, entered the platforms from maintenance airlocks and waste disposal hatches in their underbellies, fighting their way upwards using jetpacks, grappling hooks, and mag-boots to shut down the platforms' anti-air fire control centers. This operation saw the first use of the commandos' new _Lorica_ -class powered armor, whose shielding and armor proved highly effective in the cramped confines of the mining platforms. The novelty of the commandos' landing tactics caught the FO defenders by surprise, allowing the regular infantry in the next wave to land ahead of schedule, greeted by an enemy already in disarray. The FO garrisons, flat-footed and outflanked, bloodied the Empire's nose in close-quarters combat but fell nonetheless, granting the IR fleet control over local gas supplies. With Cherona taken, the Remnant was free to focus on the true prize.

The Siege of Prasidion would become one of the most inhospitable battlefields of the Imperial Theater. A massive planet-sized industrial complex, Prasidion quickly turned into a nightmare of concrete, choking dust, and urban combat. As one of the galactic north's most crucial strategic locations, Prasidion became a pit into which the Remnant and First Order poured entire armies and impossible quantities of ordnance. The maddening noise and shock of artillery was a constant companion right from the start of the Imperial landings. Outside of Prasidion's forge-cities, the planet's wastelands became filthy moonscapes cratered by indiscriminate use of explosives, where one misplaced step could bring a man into the sucking embrace of the endless mud. Trenches became miserable hives of disease, even with the Empire's best efforts to maintain sanitary living conditions. On Prasidion's northern hemisphere, the coming of summer brought with it tropical heat and humidity, the irritation of near-endless daylight, and swarms of stinging, disease-ridden insects. On its southern hemisphere, the harsh winter caused an equally intolerable inverse as troops were plunged into the freezing dark. As the First Order prepared to drag the Remnant into a prolonged siege, the pressure was on to find key openings with which to seize a swift, cost-efficient Remnant victory.

* * *

DARKER FORCES

The First Order's masterminds did not sit idly while the Battle for the Perlemian raged. The FO merged old Shadow Droid and Phase 0 Dark Trooper technology to produce new biomechanical abominations tainted by the dark side. Phase IV Dark Troopers were the first unholy fruit of such research, taking to the field on planets like Dentamus and Karadesh. Controlled by the salvaged brains of mortally wounded FO infantry, the Phase IV Dark Troopers were suicide shock troops, equipped with fearsome weapons that endangered both the highly expendable user and his foes. Chem-throwers, radiation bombs, and alchemical plague rockets sowed terror among the FO's victims, who died in excruciating agony as their lands were rendered uninhabitable for years to come. The Knights of Ren further refined their skills in Sith necromancy, raising increasingly intelligent hordes of undead on the galaxy's battlefields. Reports from frontline sources claimed that these newly raised zombies were capable of using tools and weapons, albeit with less finesse than the ancient Korriban zombies once raised by the Dathka Graush. Wraith Squadron intel-gathering efforts also uncovered an effort by the Knights of Ren to hunt down the fabled Muur Talisman. First Order high command also assigned large numbers of newly built _Hangman_ -class interdictor vessels to the Perlemian fleets, allowing the FO to more effectively counter the Corellian carrier groups' hit-and-run strikes. While the FO fleets were unable to oust the Treaty from the Perlemian, their interdictor-equipped forces were able to inflict severe casualties on Treaty naval forces, who were also pressed by the threat of the duinuogwuin prowling the space around the old Sith Worlds. By the end of 35 ABY, only three Corellian _Endurance_ -class CVs remained afloat: CV-5 _Champala_ , CV-6 _Endeavor_ , and CV-8 _Vespid_.

But even as the pre-war _Endurance_ carriers fell in battle, the Corellian shipyards were hard at work producing newer, more advanced warships to replace them. The new _Constitution_ -class carrier was a largely home-grown design, a pure CV rather than the turbolaser-toting hybrids that the original _Nebula_ and _Endurance_ classes truly were. Designed to carry even more starfighters than even the old _Venator_ SDs, the _Constitution_ would be the centerpiece of new Corellian battle groups after entering mass production. To test some of the tech planned for the _Constitution_ series, _Endeavor_ underwent an extensive refit after Kashyyyk to replace her turbos and ions with more hangar space, AA guns, and damage control systems. With support from the Treaty's new _Longsword_ -class destroyers and _Daring_ -class light cruisers, the upgraded _Endeavor_ would prove to be a considerable thorn in the FO's side. The year's end would also see the first combat flights of the T-65K Eagle, BTL-S8 Bloodhound, and T-90A Raptor.

* * *

RESURRECTION P

 _"How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"_ \- Unknown Jedi Knight, KIA 35 ABY

In a different galaxy, the reign of Supreme Chancellor Borsk Fey'lya would perhaps go down quietly as just another unremarkable chapter in the New Republic's history of political ineptitude and corruption. Perhaps he might have eventually sunk into obscurity along with the late Odamicus and other oafs. But he had chosen perhaps the worst possible time in galactic history to advance his political career.

Following the First Order's failed initial attempt on Borleias, FO naval assets in the Unknown Regions mounted a series of strikes along the NR's galactic western and southwestern defenses, forcing the New Republic Navy to stretch its already badly thinned fleets to their absolute limit. When another, even larger push came down on Borleias, the planet's depleted and demoralized garrison was overwhelmed. As Borleias' troops prepared for battle, a great and terrible shadow darkened the sky, dwarfing even the mighty _Resurgent_ -class Star Destroyers. The Star Dreadnought _Vengeance_ had returned, unseen since the fall of High Inquisitor Jerec in 5 ABY. From its holds sprang swarms of troops and starfighters, descending upon Borleias like locusts. In its current state, the Borleias garrison barely had enough manpower to match _Vengeance_ 's landing force. With _Vengeance_ supported by a host of RSDs and bulk troop transports, they had no hope at all of getting out alive. General Brenn Tantor, commander of Borleias' defenders, ordered his troops to bunker down and sell their lives as dearly as possible. Calls for reinforcement went unheard. Even if the FO had not jammed out-system comms, Tantor's pleas would fall on deaf ears as the NR's last generals fought for their lives on other battlefields. General Rand Talor and Admiral Pariades were too busy organizing the defense of Coruscant. Tyr Taskeen, Horton Salm, and Edor Crespin were occupied in the west, fighting a desperate battle to keep the Pranapur Gulf shut. In the east, Airen Cracken had fallen silent after the fall of Contruum, while Keyan Farlander had been incapacitated during the Battle for the Perlemian. Planetary militias mutinied en masse as more and more worlds lost faith in Coruscant, leaving the NR without its reserves. Alsakan outright seceded and went into isolation, refusing to open its ports to any of the war's belligerents.

With Borleias conquered, the road south to Coruscant was wide open. Despite putting up a spirited defense, the New Republic's Admiral Pariades was unable to halt the First Order's invasion of Coruscant, his plans frustrated at every turn with flawless execution by foes that seemed to operate in perfect sync. Despite the arrival of fresh ships from Dac, Pariades' fleet at Coruscant was battered aside. Pariades himself was killed in action _Vengeance_ struck the primary bridge pod of his flagship with a missile barrage. With the loss of the Star Defender _Krakana_ , the Coruscant defense fleet's morale plummeted. Facing the fleet's imminent annihilation, Admiral Nammo aboard the MC _Harbinger_ ordered a general retreat from Coruscant and the Borleias hyperlane, falling back to Anaxes.

The speed with which Coruscant fell was astounding, even by the standards of the NR military. The Golan defense platforms that defended the planet during the Galactic Civil War had been sold off during the interbellum to pay off the old Rebellion's debts. Negligence and budgetary reductions had left Coruscant's shield generators in poor condition. With most of its veterans dead or defected, the New Republic military was a pale shadow of its former self. The troops under the overworked Rand Talor were underpaid, inexperienced, and poorly trained, having undergone only half the training period of the pre-war New Republic trooper. The overwhelming majority were hastily recruited Coruscant militiamen rather than the professional troops that made up the cream of the early New Republic forces. Ammunition, food, and water supplies were insufficient to last more than four weeks, and disease among the civilian populace had clogged most of the planet's hospitals. Fey'lya, in an attempt to raise funds for the NR's depleted treasury, had auctioned officer positions to the highest bidder, fostering resentment from the enlisted who now answered to nobles and socialites who had never seen a day at the academies. For all their experience, Talor and his inner circle could only do so much with so little. With troops and ships pulled from Anaxes, Nammo attempted to break through the First Order blockade around the system, only for his force be nearly annihilated. Of the 200,000 ground troops that attempted planetfall, less than 5,000 survived to link up with Talor's army. _Harbinger_ was crippled in the assault and ultimately scuttled.

As the First Order made its landings, a great darkness fell upon Coruscant. Massive thunderstorms struck Galactic City, and mobs of feral decraniated and sithspawn ran amok through the streets. Knights of Ren struck at Galactic City's water supply, tainting it with a strain of the Krytos virus. At the heart of every major assault were the First Order's red-armored Sith elites, the largest gathering of Sith since the fall of Skere Kaan. It was here that the true power of the Sith legions first came to light. Clouds of lightning and walls of telekinetic force intercepted incoming explosives. Telepathic and precognitive officers worked in tandem to coordinate their forces, blunting every counter-attack with unprecedented speed. And the few Gatalentan Jedi on the ground sensed that behind them all was an even greater presence, commanding them from afar. Against Talor's meager force, it was like euthanizing a sick man with a sledgehammer.

The historian Tervinus writes: "Talor had been dealt the worst possible hand. With a proper army, he might have been able to turn Coruscant into a labyrinthine, exhausting slog for the First Order, but the forces he commanded now were a far cry from the army he had commanded during the Liberation of Coruscant so many years ago. Worse still, the militia regiment in charge of defending one of the shield generators betrayed the New Republic, shutting their shield down to give the First Order a landing zone. Talor and his men fought like devils, but they were ultimately powerless to prevent the ensuing slaughter."

By the end of the battle, New Republic High Command was all but annihilated. Supreme Chancellor Fey'lya, General Rand Talor, their aides, and the last handful of surviving senators emerged from the ruined Republic Executive Building to offer terms of surrender. Fey'lya was clearly inebriated and the train of sycophantic senators trailing behind him wept openly, their robes stained with wine and food. General Talor was the only one to approach with any sort of dignity, but even he faltered at the sight of the man leading the First Order's triumphal procession. Talor was stun-blasted and captured, while Fey'lya and the senators were electrocuted to death by the invaders' Sith mastermind. Across the planet, another signal was given. The Sack of Coruscant commenced. With a population of over a trillion, the butcher's work would not be quick or without resistance, but it would be an unprecedented bloodbath all the same. As Coruscant screamed, one man stood atop the bodies, his head thrown back, laughing his lungs out as he raised his fists towards the lightning-split skies. Coruscant's Emperor had come home.


	17. The Serpent's Smile

THE SERPENT'S SMILE

 _"Dark_ _G_ _reetings!_ " - Supreme Leader Snoke

Emperor Palpatine's return had shaken the galaxy even harder than the Hosnian Cataclysm, but none felt it as keenly as the Imperial Remnant. Shortly after the Sacking of Coruscant, another First Order diplomatic delegation attempted contact with Imperial leadership, this time accompanied by a mass propaganda campaign across the front lines and galactic media. On Bastion, the Central Committee of Grand Moffs was in disarray as the Remnant's leaders watched Snoke and Palpatine address the galaxy, offering wealth and power to those who peacefully welcomed annexation, as well as a return to the glory days of the old Empire. Much of the senior Remnant leadership still remembered those days, longing to enjoy the power and prestige of yore. Many "Old Guard" Moffs like Crowal, Flennic, and Freyborn initially called for a return to the days of the old Empire, advising Pellaeon to cut ties with the Corellian Treaty. In contrast, Moffs Sarreti, Garreter, and Lecersen remained firmly opposed to the First Order. Debate raged among the Moffs for days as Pellaeon kept his silence, each side competing to be louder than the other. In truth, Pellaeon had never intended to bend the knee to Palpatine again, but he needed to make sure that his words would convince the rest of the Remnant as well.

Three days after the First Order's galactic address, Pellaeon spoke. The Moffs cared not for righteousness, patriotism, or other such nonsense. Instead, Pellaeon appealed to other sensibilities. He pointed out how everyone in the Remnant, from the lowest Army trooper to the grandest of Moffs, had been betrayed by their First Order fellows during Operation Cinder. The loyalty of the Old Guard on Bastion had been rewarded with abandonment and a blaster bolt to the back. They had been duped before, and Pellaeon had no doubt that the First Order would stab them in the back again. He reminded them of the losses suffered since the Hosnian Cataclysm, and how the mob would react if they were told that their fathers, sons, and brothers had been sacrificed all so that their leaders could indulge in nostalgic ambition. He told them that it would be far more profitable for the Remnant to _conquer_ First Order space and plunder its wealth than to compete for the galactic pie with the First Order's many officers and vassals. The Unknown Regions were an untapped motherlode with riches that would only be won at the end of the Remnant's guns.

The Moffs, as expected, were easily swayed by appeals to their self-preservation and greed, quickly falling back in line. Pellaeon made a series of short, simple public announcements that day: the First Order's offer would be rejected, business would continue as usual, and all Imperial citizens were to resume their normal routines. On Bastion, things remained relatively bloodless, with the Imperial Elite Guard taking to the streets to enforce public order. On other Remnant worlds, however, Pellaeon's rejection of Emperor Palpatine was the cause of much resentment among the Remnant's old patrician families, who yearned to retake the holdings they had lost in the Galactic Civil War. Clashes broke out between the patrician houses and Imperial law enforcement on multiple worlds. Most uprisings were quelled with a few stun blasts and imprisonment, although the Remnant was not above setting examples via public executions or other, similarly brutal means of repression to put down more violent rebellions.

On Prasidion, the Imperial situation was one of crisis. While the entire Navy was unquestioningly loyal to Pellaeon, the ground forces were an entirely different story. In an unusual turn of events, much of Dragases' problems came not from unruly enlisted, but from disloyal _officers_. Most Remnant officers hailed from the patrician nobility, in contrast to the mostly-plebeian enlisted ranks. The public address from Coruscant was broadcast across the planet from First Order positions in conjunction with an effort by FO agents to bribe and misinform Imperial forces. Panic, confusion, and defection sapped the momentum of the Imperial advance. Seeking to exploit this momentary weakness, the First Order launched a series of offensives across Prasidion, with the Remnant forces struggling to maintain cohesion. Amid the fuel extraction platforms of Prasidion's Tervili Archipelago, General Voss engaged the forces of the Sith Lady, Lamashtu. Despite initial gains, Voss' campaign came to an abrupt halt on the island of Segarta. First Order agents had secretly managed to convert a number of Voss' subordinate commanders, mostly nobles who resented serving under the commoner-born Voss. The traitorous officers assassinated Voss' second-in-command and sabotaged friendly comms, causing Voss' calls for reinforcement and artillery to fall on deaf ears. Abandoned and isolated, Voss was captured by the enemy when his beachhead on Segarta was finally overrun by Lamashtu's legions.

Following Voss' capture, mass reports of friendly fire, and an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Vauban's command staff, an infuriated Dragases ordered a large-scale purge of the officer ranks. This action culled many would-be traitors from the Imperial ground force but also caused the loss of many well-trained, veteran leaders, which led to a reduction in unit cohesion and discipline. Additionally, Operation Ballet, the Imperial plan to invade Prasidion's northern industrial heartlands, was sent back to the drawing board mere days before it was set to commence, as Dragases found himself with a shortage of replacement officers who were both loyal and experienced enough to coordinate the many moving parts of his strategy. With the Imperial invasion thrown into disarray, the fate of Prasidion now rested on a knife's edge.

* * *

STARDUST CRUSADERS

The NJO's efforts during the early war, as we already saw, were not without cost, but the knights who survived the trials of 34 and 35 ABY emerged as some of the most dangerous fighters in the galaxy, stepping out of the shadow cast by their predecessors. As the war progressed into its third year, the Jedi grew in confidence, buoyed by their tally of victories at Kashyyyk, Vulpter, Ruusan, and other battlefields. Rather than waiting for orders to come down from Corellian Treaty brass, more and more Jedi took on the role of knights-errant, walking the stars of their own volition in between the Treaty's major campaigns. Indeed, the refurbished Green Jedi temple that served as the NJO's temporary headquarters on Corellia was nearly empty during the war, the silent halls mostly populated by young padawans and a rotating skeleton crew of Knight instructors primarily led by Jaden Korr and Grandmaster Katarn.

In the far galactic northeast, Kyle Katarn assisted the forces of NR-aligned Dac in their battle against the armies of the Karakuri Shogunate, a First Order puppet state founded by the mad Colicoid droid-master, Kegare. Wielding potent chemical weapons, the Shogunate's droid armies devastated the Hakawa Islands and the deep-sea cities of the Murul Trench. Though the subsequent New Republic counter-attack pushed the Shogunate fleet to the Reginard System, Dac's forces continued to face problems at home. The fighting around the Murul Trench had awakened a mythical beast known as the Sleeper of Murul, which attacked both armies when it awakened. In the ensuing battle, the Trench was rendered uninhabitable due to a combination of the Sleeper's excreted bio-toxins, the Shogunate's chem weapons, and the destruction of multiple industrial hazmat containment facilities. Katarn and Dac's aquanauts were able to pummel the ancient monster back into its slumber through overwhelming firepower, but it would take years to cleanse the Trench's waters. While the poisoned waters flooded into most of the Trench cities' habitats, the tomb of the Quarren Jedi Shorakk Nall remained miraculously untainted, becoming a temporary sanctuary to a number of civilian survivors. After the battle, Katarn assisted in the tomb's temporary conversion into an aid station for the wounded and sick.

On Fresia, Valin Horn and other Corellian Treaty test pilots joined the New Republic's defense of the Galactic West. Taking KDY's Delta Zero prototype, Horn joined the defense of the Pranapur Gulf, flying alongside Horton Salm and Edor Crespin against the First Order's cosmo-barbarian vassals. Horn and the Delta Zero proved to be a highly effective pair, playing a pivotal role in taking down the FOSF's Irkalla Squadron and King Desidain the Half-Blood, monarch of the Lascarae and Chereuscids. By landing the kill-shot on Desidain's flagship, Horn threw the Lascarae and Chereuscids into disarray, allowing the New Republic's veteran 48th Fleet to sweep in and scatter them. The siege of the Pranapur Gulf had been temporarily beaten back, and the New Republic's western flank was given a much-needed rest. As the New Republic's attention turned towards Coruscant, Horn and his fellow CT pilots prepared for the journey back east, where the Battle for the Perlemian continued to rage.

Baldwin of Hyades journeyed to the silent Hyadic Cluster to investigate the great darkness he sensed in his old home. When he returned, it was in the mourner's black with new, terrible wounds to mark his exploits. Of his benighted homeland, he spoke little, save for fearful mutterings about cursed stars and a black lake. In place of his lost lightsaber, he had acquired the ancient, force-imbued Spear of Hali, as well as the bone reliquary of his honored ancestor, Reynauld the Great. Until his dying day, Baldwin swore that he was haunted by a grinning shadow. On certain nights, even his fellow Jedi might have sensed a hungry presence watching from just out of view. Nightmares snatched away any comfort he could have found in sleep, unless it was on the hallowed ground of Ossus or the temporary Corellian enclave. Though he never faltered, Baldwin would know no rest until his dying day.

On the feudal shrine world of Sophia VI, Godfrey of Montressonne did battle with the nomadic cosmo-barbarians of the Phuran Tribe. At the Battle of Castle Courolaine, Godfrey rescued Princess Annelise, daughter of the planet's monarch, from the clutches of the invading chieftain Thorogast. Godfrey defeated Thorogast in single combat and hurled the chieftain's body from the parapets of Castle Courolaine. Enraged, Thorogast's brothers challenged the Jedi Knight, only to be bested and slain as well. The chieftain's son fled from the battlefield with his bodyguard retinue, causing a panic that led to a general Phuran retreat. For his chivalry, Godfrey won the favor of King Alberic and the princess' hand in marriage, inadvertently becoming the first Jedi Lord of the modern era.

Along the Saint's Trail hyperlane, Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, and Wraith Squadron were tasked with hunting down the sorcerer Marduk Ghul, identified during the Battle of Ruusan as the so-called "Vermissiah." Masquerading as a mad prophet, Ghul established dark side cults to destabilize and conquer the Saint's Trail, hoping to acquire the resource-rich worlds along the hyperlane. The Vermin Cults seized the nova crystal reserves of Hesperion and phrik mines of Selford, plunged Nis into screaming anarchy, and defiled Aramithrae before being halted at Tiresia, the resting place of the eponymous Saint. The details of the Saint's Trail campaign will be covered in a future chapter.

* * *

WRIST ROCKET RELAUNCH

 _"If you want to watch these wrist rockets, you're gonna have to buy into pay-per-view."_ \- Teo Skarbi, CMO of Baktoid Industrial Systems

The post-Rebellion era was a time of many reboots: a rebooted Republic, a rebooted Jedi Order, multiple polities claiming to be the rebooted Empire, and curiously, a rebooted Confederacy of Independent Systems. Following the Galactic Empire's collapse, two new states arose claiming to be the CIS' true successor. The first was the Confederacy of Corporate Systems, a corporate oligarchy situated in the space of the old Corporate Sector Authority. The second was the New Separatist Alliance, a collection of planetary governments and interplanetary states scattered across the galaxy. While initially united in their desire for independence from galactic powers, the Confederacy and Separatists split over disputes regarding profit allocation and choices of trade partners, leading to a schism in 15 BBY. For all intents and purposes, the CCS _was_ the CSA, just rebranded by new management following a wave of post-Endor mergers and acquisitions. The CCS had a presence in every industry imaginable. If there was something you wanted to buy, there was a zaibatsu somewhere in the CCS that sold it at an astronomical markup. Friendly izakayas, jolly pop music, and imported palm trees above false oceans can elicit a plastic nostalgia for imaginary summers past. But under the neon glow and shiny new battle droids, chromed corporate cronies continued to connive, sipping Synthetic Slings at sunset in seedy cyber saloons. Remember to tip generously. The back-alley chop shops don't like misers.

The New Separatist Alliance evolved into a different beast than its corporate cousin. The New Separatist Alliance was not a single unified blob on a galactic map, but rather a scattering of dots on a galactic canvas, distant member states and planets united by trade treaties and historical allegiance. Planets as far to the galactic north as Serenno, Jabiim, and Raxus Secundus pledged allegiance to the same flag as the likes of Geonosis, the Neimoidian Purse, and Hypori. Separated by astronomical distances, the Separatist states could never hope to achieve military power on the level of more conventional galactic powers. Instead, they sought to gain relevance on the galactic stage as economic powerhouses. Geonosian factories flared to renewed life, gorging themselves on the dust of distant suns to churn out a legion of new mechanical terrors. Coin and cocktails flowed on wealthy Serenno, where nouveau-noblesse carrion-eaters fell upon the carcasses of old houses, building their banks and ports on a foundation of Dooku's bones. Across the border gore of a rapidly fragmenting galactic map, rising economic dragons stepped boldly towards their new Hyperspace Renaissance on the precarious knife-edge of galactic war.

As the New Republic fragmented and the galaxy fell into darkness, so too did its market share, allowing competitors like the Separatists and Confederacy to swoop in with their own homegrown businesses. Where the New Republic's military and businesses retreated, Separatist and Confederate traders put on their road shows, offering "fair" deals to the people of the galaxy's edge. These often took the form of a two-step transaction. First came the open hand of friendship via contractual trade deals. With their business savvy and valuable resources, the Confederates and Separatists held the clear advantage in bargaining power and naturally tilted the deals in their favor as much as they could. If business did not go according to the liking of the Separatists or Confederacy, then the open hand would become the closed fist as mercenary garrisons turned their guns inward to become occupiers and blockades. While not quite as militaristic as the CIS of old, the New Separatists and CCS were still ultimately the most ruthless businessmen outside of Hutt Space, a reputation they were quite proud to uphold.

That being said, one often got exactly what was paid for. Though highly expensive, New Separatist and Confederate mercenaries were high-quality, highly loyal provided their contracts were upheld, and always in good supply. Geonosis and Colla IV were renowned for their tech-savvy riggers with their droid maniples. Serenno's _condottieri_ -led companies and the CCS' _sternsknecht_ PMCs offered expensive but elite frontline infantry. From Raxus Prime's satellite colonies came motley bands of howling junk berserkers. There were hired guns to cater to every buyer's paramilitary needs, no matter how unsavory they might be. Indeed, the troops of a given mercenary company might find themselves on both sides of an interstellar conflict, exchanging banter and halfhearted volleys of blaster fire while their employers fought to the death. If you were in the business of war, then the galaxy of the 30s ABY would have been the most lucrative bubble in decades.


	18. Empire of Ash

EMPIRE OF ASH

 _"At the summit of the world, there stands a great Scourge of Darkness. Upon his head sits a crown of stars. In one hand he holds a set of scales and in the other a thunderbolt, a corpse-pale figure leading riders of red and black and white."_ \- The Oracle of Keraphion, 30 ABY

It goes without saying that any Sith Lord's reign is a reign of terror. On its best day, "urban hellscape" would have been a generous description of Coruscant, but its new conquerors had made it even worse. Palpatine no longer cared about appearances, choosing instead to revel in his unlimited power. Decadent festivals for the First Order's political elite were common, employing thousands of press-ganged proles from the lower levels. The deformed, the disfigured, and the poor were paraded before Palpatine and Snoke to reenact scenes from famous plays and historical wars, to the delight of cackling dark lords. Part of the Senate Plaza had been converted into a lake of wine, around which had been planted a synthetic forest from whose branches hung skewers of flesh for the nobility to eat. An anonymous source from the Imperial Palace staff claimed that the Emperors' throne room contained scores of chained slaves on torture devices behind shield walls, with each wall slaved to the thrones' controls so that Palpatine and Snoke could choose when to listen to their screams.

Excesses committed by First Order troops were not just ignored, but outright encouraged. Civilian homes were invaded, businesses were ransacked, religious centers were desecrated, and vast quantities of property were confiscated. Eventually, the purges and looting just became another part of the daily routine, like the sound of a commuter train or the stench of litter. Occasionally, the followers of one faith or another would attempt to worship in secret, but the Emperor's many eyes ensured that such covens were quickly and gruesomely purged. The corpses of Jedi and other religious leaders were displayed in public or paraded through the streets, left to rot in the sun as a message to all those who would defy the First Order. Libraries and universities were torched, and scholars were executed. Millennia of knowledge turned to ash, including thousands of irreplaceable texts on engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology.

Pestilence wracked Coruscant's lower levels. The few hospitals still operational on Coruscant were reserved for the First Order's political elite. Even then, waiting times for medical services stretched into the infinite due to staff shortages and the inscrutable new bureaucracy of the First Order. Lower-class public baths, aqueducts, and lower-level sewage systems also fell into severe disrepair from lack of maintenance. Public street sweeping and utilities maintenance services suffered heavily under the First Order's withholding of funds. The streets became choked with refuse. Of course, this being Coruscant, few people could be bothered to care unless they were directly affected. A hundred million more people dying of plague this year was the equivalent of a rounding error in a population of one trillion. Fires were all too frequent as well. Coruscant's fire departments had fallen under the control of Otha Parmenia, a notoriously corrupt and lazy Minister of Finance. When a property caught fire, Parmenia would withhold the fire brigades' services unless the property owner sold the land for a below-market price, at which point she would put out the fire and lease the land to new tenants. Many even suspected the Minister and her men of secretly starting the fires themselves.

Famines were a frequent nuisance as well on occupied Coruscant. While the quality of First Order logistics varied across the galaxy, the supply train connected to the fleet led by Palpatine and Snoke was nevertheless highly robust and competent, certainly capable of handling the food shipments necessary to feed the galactic center. And it did, but only for the First Order's troops and upper crust. First Order elites often held grandiose feasts in palatial penthouses, and even the common troops ate well for a time as a reward for their contribution to the Emperor's triumphant return. All this came at a cost to the common citizenry, who faced rapidly inflating food prices and dwindling supplies. The few citizens who still had the strength and will to riot were violently put down, while countless others starved to death.

With Coruscant conquered, First Order forces poured into the breach in New Republic lines, threatening to split the rest of NR space down the middle. The new conquests fared little better than Coruscant, with First Order troops sacking, looting, and razing worlds as they went. The cosmos was filled with smoke and blood, and the polities of the galactic east struggled to maintain their borders amid an ever-growing tide of refugees. Many of these refugees were carried disease, spreading the Coruscant Plagues wherever they went. Where the New Republic's citizens emigrated, nomadic cosmo-barbarian tribes immigrated, setting up shop amid the hastily abandoned spires. These tribes were mostly ignorant of city-building and infrastructure, and thus were unable to maintain the utilities, roads, and ports that they now possessed. Knowledge of engineering and the sciences was scarce among many tribes, jealously guarded by the learned upper crust of their societies and passed on only in hereditary fashion. Knowledge was power. Knowledge was job security. The scarcer your skill set, the more irreplaceable you became.

As the First Order and its vassals preyed upon the inner New Republic hyperlanes, economies broke down even further. Faith in the New Republic credit had already evaporated. Planetary lords began to issue their own currencies. Private interstellar trade slowed as conditions became ever more dangerous for those who did not swear allegiance to the First Order. Industries and planets heavily reliant on imports and exports began to languish under the increase of banditry. The loss of Coruscant as a shipping hub also disrupted commerce. Shipping costs steadily climbed as traders were forced to reroute their freight through more circuitous, less secure hyperlanes. Many planets considered giving up on interstellar trade entirely as the New Republic's trade network began to break down, preferring to look inward as First Order raids began to reach the heart of the Republic's economic heartland. In the lands of the dying New Republic, the last embers of industry and good civilization began to sputter and die. But even as darkness descended in the galactic west, others elsewhere continued to rage against the dying of the light.

* * *

FAITH, STEEL, AND GUNSMOKE

First settled during the Pius Dea Era, the Saint's Trail was named after Saint Joyeuse, a farm girl from the agri-world of Betaine. Joyeuse's history is long and full of conflicting accounts, but there are a few threads that most historians and theologians generally agree on. The Saint quickly gained a following along the Trail when she began performing miracles to cure the Betainian Plague. The Pius Dea cult, deeming Joyeuse's faith heretical, launched a number of crusades on the Trail, only to be beaten back when the Trail's myriad armies united under Joyeuse's banner. Joyeuse and her companions spent many years beating back invaders and pirates, only for the Saint to meet her end slaying the black dragon Rahab. Laid to rest at the sacred Grail Springs of Tiresia, the Saint continued to be an object of worship along the Trail for millennia. Now, as the First Order sought to lay claim to the hyperlanes near Sith Space, the Saint's Trail returned once more to the stage of history. The Host of Sinners, a cultist army formed under the banner of Marduk Ghul, advanced down the Trail, despoiling its temple worlds. With the good king Antiphon IX murdered on Nis, Ghul turned his horde's attentions to Tiresia.

When the Host of Sinners arrived on Tiresia, it descended as a disparate collection of warbands. Of these cults, the most dangerous by far were the Hesperian Hetairoi, the Tanntay steppe raiders, the Nisian Chalkaspides, and the Wolf Cults of Fjonir. These warbands were regiments of renown, either professionally trained or raised from feared warrior kingdoms in contrast to the peasant rabble that made up the expendable majority of Ghul's armies. While Skywalker and the Wraiths slowed the enemy by waging a guerrilla war with Tiresia's scattered militias, Korr rallied other the free worlds of the Saint's Trail, bringing much-needed support to the besieged Tiresians.

Ghul had hoped for a speedy conquest like at Nis, but the Tiresians' stubborn defense had forced his troops into a longer campaign than he had supplies for. His forces only had enough food to last through autumn, insufficient cold-weather gear, and no way to safely forage when the countryside was filled with Tiresian raiding parties. Expendable though they were, Ghul's followers had to be alive to secure the First Order's objectives along the Trail. With winter rapidly approaching and both armies converging on the Grail Springs, Ghul decided to gamble his invasion force's fortunes on a single decisive pitched battle.

On the eve of the battle, a vision of the Saint allegedly appeared before four of Tiresia's defenders: Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, Patriarch Soter IV of the Tiresian Church, and Orn Blackhand of the Church's mercenary Hersir Guard. Warning them of the coming darkness, the Saint bade them drink deep from the Springs to protect their souls and bodies. A vibrant font of life and light, the Grail Springs were thought to be a nexus infused with the Light Side of the Force.

At daybreak, Ghul marched on the Grail Cathedral. Endless hosts blanketed the landscape, a thousand banners fluttering in the wind. In truth, Ghul's mortal armies were a distraction to draw attention away from his true trump card: the bones of Rahab. As the Host of Sinners clashed with Tiresia's defenders, Ghul's acolytes did their work at the dragon's grave. Through dark rituals, the Knight of Ren used the bones to call out across the stars to one of Rahab's kin, the very same dragon that had brought two Corellian fleets to ruin. As the ancient leviathan descended, the skies turned a sickly color and the world dropped to its knees. At the mere sight of the beast, all knew its name: Gamaliel. Gamaliel. _Gamaliel_. Twisted and terrible, its scales and flesh flowed like water. Here was a creature versed in the ancient Sith sciences. Eternally in flux, Gamaliel was the embodiment of alchemical turmoil, the very land and creatures warping under its terrible radiance. Water turned to blood. Plants grew, died, regrew, and mutated uncontrollably. Living men turned into mindless horrors of twisted bone and meat, while the dead melted into primordial fluid. Where it walked, the ground glittered as base minerals transmuted into "noble" metals. The Armies of the Saint flocked to the side of the Grail-Blessed, whose very presence seemed to counteract the dragon's chaotic energies.

While Tiresia's defenders could stand against mortal armies, their weapons and fortifications were utterly ineffective against the dragon. Durasteel blades and depleted uranium munitions turned to bronze in Gamaliel's presence, and what few weapons did penetrate its thick hide were negated by the beast's rapid regeneration. Against such a foe, the Armies of the Saint could do little but retreat to the warded walls surrounding the Grail Cathedral. But even those ramparts could not hold out indefinitely.

It is often said that power comes in response to a need. As Ghul and his forces surged through a breach, Skywalker and Blackhand rallied the surviving Hersirs to plug the gap. An ancient shackle broke, bathing the world in light. Galatine, transfigured, etched a new name upon the consciousness of every man who bore witness that day. _Excalibur_ glowed with an awesome power, its burning blade crying out to grasp victory. It was a light of reborn glory, a gold experience, a sword of kings. When it shined, darkness faded. Of the champions that jostled to slay the Grail-Blessed, none survived. The Grail-Blessed seemed tireless, fighting with speed and strength far beyond normal men. Ariq Khan of the Tanntay fell first, bisected at the waist. Antarchon and Epigonus of the Hesperian Hetairoi were killed in the same mighty swing. The Sith torturer Sitri fled screaming as Excalibur's radiance set her robes ablaze. Cleander of the Chalkaspides was cut down by the Hersir Guard, his shield splintered by vibroaxes and his breastplate pierced by point-blank gunfire. Ulv of Fjonir met the business end of Blackhand's ACP scattergun. The unclean recoiled as their alchemical enhancements withered in the presence of the Saint's chosen. For a moment, it seemed as if even Ghul had been slain, only for his "corpse" to dissolve into a mass of retreating worms. Then Gamaliel approached, forcing Blackhand and the Hersirs to retreat with its burning breath. Skywalker was cast aside with bone-breaking force, but not before carving a burning fissure into the dragon's chest. Unlike other wounds, however, this new injury did not heal, the flesh and scales around it suddenly inert. Korr carried the ancient rifle Failnaught, a Great Hunt relic built to pierce the tough hides of sithspawn. Seeing the opening, Korr fired shot after shot into Gamaliel's chest wound, even piercing one of its black hearts. But star dragons do not grow old without having escape plans. The dragon called out to the alchemical spawn in Ghul's army, using them as meat shields while it made a hasty retreat.

At the same time, Patriarch Soter received word of incoming reinforcements from across the planet as pilgrims rushed to protect the Saint's resting place. Emboldened, he rallied the Cathedral's defenders, pushing the enemy back outside the walls. Over the next few days, the Host of Sinners mounted additional attacks on the Grail Springs, only to be repulsed each time. With their supplies dwindling, the temperature dropping, and news of additional Tiresian reinforcements, Ghul's surviving lieutenants ordered a retreat back to Nis. Though the Tiresian militias harried them every step of the way back to their transports, Ghul and his forces were able to escape to fight another day.

In the wake of Ghul's retreat, Blackhand was simultaneously granted an honorable discharge from his duties to the Tiresian clergy and inducted into the New Jedi Order, having tested positive for Force sensitivity. Remarkably, Skywalker and Korr both walked away from the Tiresia mission far less injured than they should have been. Despite suffering multiple injuries from envenomed blades and infected bites, Korr appeared to suffer no ill effects save for conventional wounds and was back in action after a week of rest. Where a normal man would have been killed outright by a blow from Gamaliel, Skywalker "merely" needed extensive bone grafting, cybernetic reinforcement, bacta treatment, physical therapy, and a temporary rebreather. Naturally, Wraith Squadron celebrated the return of their newly chromed Jedi point man with a cornucopia of bacta-flavored snacks and Darth Vader memorabilia. Both the NJO and Corellian medical experts expressed considerable interest in studying the Grail Springs' medicinal properties, but the Tiresian Church's reluctance to open the Springs to such study kept the Grail waters a mystery for the ages.

Though the Battle of Tiresia was a victory for the Corellian Treaty and its new allies, it was a bittersweet one. At the strategic level, the First Order had come out of the Saint's Trail campaign with a net profit. Most of the hyperlane's planets and resources were in First Order control and the majority of its military losses had been inflicted upon expendable vassal armies rather than the First Order proper. Even the few Knights of Ren killed in the campaign were easily replaced given the number of planets the First Order had conquered since the war began. That being said, the war for the Saint's Trail was far from over. Tiresia and her allies were eager to sign the Corellian Treaty, well aware of the Trail's strategic value on the galactic stage. The hyperlane's proximity to Sith Space made it an ideal avenue of invasion into the heart of the First Order's operations in the galactic east, a fact that Corellian Treaty brass knew all too well. In the war for the galactic east, one objective now mattered above all else: _Korriban delenda est_.


End file.
